


My Love, My Life, My Warrior

by green78



Category: Lost Girl
Genre: F/F, Season 4 AU, Valkubus - Freeform, fixit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-22
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-03-08 15:58:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 59,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3215006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/green78/pseuds/green78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Season 4 AU set before "Groundhog Fae." The Wanderer has rallied an ancient force that threatens all Fae, Light and Dark, and plans to strike on the day that the veil between worlds is thinnest. Tamsin, meanwhile, is forced into a choice that only Bo can make. Valkubus endgame.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I've seen a lot of Season 4 fixits and a lot of use of a certain plot device I rather like, so I figured I'd put my two cents in, but from a different mythological standpoint. Here's hoping all goes well. The title is taken from a piece I wrote for my Valkubus fic "Dearly Loved."

The pain was what woke her: two gouges of agony carved between her shoulder blades by dull knives burning white-hot. Dizzy and gasping, Tamsin tumbled from her bed and onto her hands and knees, her nails digging into the floor as she made a desperate crawl to the stairs. “Shit, shit, shit, shit,  _shit_ ,” she hissed as she staggered her way downwards, barely keeping herself from face-planting as she shakily stumbled to what counted as the kitchen in the crack shack. Shaking hot and cold, sweating and shivering, Tamsin braced herself against the counter and let her wings break free with a sigh of relief. Stretching the tender limbs with care, the Valkyrie turned her now-skeletal face to see what was wrong.

_“Shit!”_

Tamsin’s wings, once shining white with the barest hints of outlined brown, were now black as night and pitch and tar. They hung in a malicious sort of droop, the feathers listless and barely discernable in the hints of moonlight shining through the broken walls. Still taking desperate gulps of air, each one a sharp stab in her lungs, Tamsin curved her wings just far enough for her to reach back and touch them. As she had feared, the texture of her feathers had become rough and harsh, almost grating against her skin.

“No, no…” the Valkyrie whispered to herself, as if saying the words aloud would make it true. “It isn’t possible…”

The creak of footsteps down the stairs gave Tamsin just enough time to retract her wings and let her face return to its usual appearance. Bo appeared in the living room a moment later, rubbing sleep from her eyes. “Tamsin?” she mumbled, trying to assess the situation as best as a half-awake succubus could. “You ok?”

“I’m good, succulette,” Tamsin replied, trying to keep her tone aloof and casual. “Just needed a drink.”

“Tamsin, it’s three in the morning…”

“Of _water_.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Bo yawned and turned back to the stairs, but not before giving the Valkyrie one last contemplative look. “G’night, Tamsin.”

Only when the succubus’s footsteps had faded away did Tamsin murmur, “Good night, Bo.”

Sure that she was alone again, Tamsin brought her wings back out, staring at what they’d become. No one could know about this. Not Kenzi and _especially_ not Bo. How could she even explain it to them?

How could she tell them she had Fallen?

…

Bo fiddled with the rim of her beer bottle as she watched Tamsin play doubles with Dyson against Kenzi and Hale. The blonde had been more subdued than usual and seemed to be making it a point to avoid the succubus as much as possible, spending time with Kenzi instead. Bo understood the whole “momz” thing Tamsin had with the human, but she still had her suspicions that _something_ was going on. Ever since she’d found the Valkyrie in the kitchen in the middle of the night.

It didn’t help that Bo was starting to become very fond of Tamsin in a way she couldn’t quite interpret. She had originally written it off as just affection for the cheery, innocent Tamsin the Valkyrie had been as she was growing up, but everything changed the day Bo went to rescue her from Massimo’s lair: the day Tamsin had spread her wings for the first time and stared Bo down with a skeletal visage both beautiful and terrifying. Bo had placed her hand on Tamsin’s cheek and stared into the depths of those haunting eyes without falter, the flutter of the Valkyrie’s wings echoing in her ears.

_That’s what love feels like._

Bo shook herself and took a long pull from the beer bottle. She had Lauren and Dyson to deal with; the last thing she needed was another player on the field. The cruelty of her own thoughts surprised her so much that she found herself downing the rest of her drink to chase it away. She turned to ask her grandfather for another and found Trick already sliding one towards her.

“Thanks,” she mumbled in weary bemusement, taking another long drink.

“You look like you could use it,” Trick commented neutrally before going back to cleaning glasses. “Anything I can help with?”

“Just…stuff,” Bo gave up with a wave of her hand. “I’ll figure it out. Eventually. But thanks. So, doing anything for Halloween?” she continued, wanting to change the subject.

“ _Samhain_ , Bo,” Trick corrected patiently. “Humans celebrate Halloween.”

The succubus grinned. “And yet that didn’t stop you from holding a rather impressive costume party last year.”

The bartender rolled his eyes. “It was a _fancy dress_ party, and fancy dress was _optional_. If I recall correctly, Kenzi got a lot of scathing looks for that ridiculous getup she claimed was a cat costume.”

“They were just jealous of my mad styling skillz,” Kenzi cut in. She and the others had finished their game of pool and come to the bar looking for more drinks. Tamsin, Bo noticed, made sure to put both Kenzi _and_ Hale between her and the succubus.

Trick gave the human a pointed look. “Whatever it was, there will be none of that this year, young lady. But to answer your question, Bo, yes, I am holding a Samhain celebration.”

“Yes!” Hale, Kenzi, and Dyson exclaimed, and their response made Trick roll his eyes again along with Bo and Tamsin.

“If you miscreants don’t mind, I’d like to keep it a little more civil than last year,” Trick stressed, even as he put shot glasses in front of everyone and brought out the vodka without question. “I’d rather not have to replace any more tables.”

“That was an accident!” Kenzi whined.

“All the same,” Trick insisted, and the human sighed.

“Fine, fine,” Kenzi accepted with an overdramatic sigh. “Killjoy.” She was about to come up with a further retort when the door to the Dal banged open and the Fae that stormed in rendered the place silent.

The Morrigan, slightly disheveled and definitely angry, marched forward and shoved Bo and Hale aside so she could plant her hands on the bar, nails digging into the wood.

“Blood King, we have a _serious_ problem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Samhain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain): pronounced "SOW-an" ("ow" like "cow"). One of the four Celtic seasonal festivals. Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and is also said to be the day when the veil between this world and the Otherworld is thinnest.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is almost all dialogue, but it kind of has to be, so...sorry?

_“Blood King, we have a_ serious _problem.”_

“I’ll say,” Kenzi snarked. “You’re _here_.”

“Kenzi!” Bo hissed.

“Leash your pet, succubus, we have more important things to worry about,” the Morrigan spat. “I’m as thrilled about my presence here as she is, but this is bigger than Light or Dark.”

 “Everybody out!” Trick shouted across the Dal. “We’re closed! Official business!” The Fae left quickly, none of them wanting anything to do with whatever it was that brought the Morrigan raging in. Once everyone but the assemblage around Trick had left, the bartender turned back to Evony. “Now what’s this all about?”

“The Otherworld, Blood King. This is about the Otherworld and the veil. It’s tearing.”

Bo and Kenzi knew by the wide eyes and indrawn breaths that this meant something terrible, but neither had any clue as to what. “Are you sure?” Trick whispered, and Bo was surprised to hear her grandfather’s voice tremble.

“I was chased here by a couple scald crows; I’m _very_ sure.” Tamsin made a disgusted noise and the Morrigan arched an eyebrow at her. “I would’ve thought Valkyries liked scald crows. Or do they cramp your style?”

“Scald crows?” Bo asked, putting aside her confusion about the Otherworld and the veil in favor of what seemed like a simpler question.

“Battlefield scavengers,” Tamsin replied, scowling at the Morrigan. “They inspire courage in some warriors and feast on the remains of others. They serve Mór Ríoghan.”

“If they’re yours, why are they chasing you?” Bo asked Evony, thoroughly confused.

The Morrigan rolled her eyes. “Your ignorance is painful, succubus. Not ‘the Morrigan,’ _Mór Ríoghan_ : goddess of battle and strife and one of the first Dark Fae ever to have lived. The title of Morrigan is in her honor.”

“If she was one of the first dark Fae ever to have lived, how did she send her crows after you?”

“Because the veil to the Otherworld is tearing,” Trick repeated Evony in a resigned sigh.

“Samhain sure as hell won’t help,” Tamsin added, pouring herself another shot and downing it in one smooth movement.

“What does Samhain have to do with this? Can somebody _please_ start explaining things?!” Bo protested, beginning to lose her temper.

“Slow your roll, succubitch; we’ll spell it out for you,” the Valkyrie replied calmly. Throwing back another shot, she began, “Samhain is the one day of the year when the veil between this world and the Otherworld is thinnest. The Otherworld is one of many realms that host dead Fae, but it’s also home to a group of Fae that were tricked into living there: Fae called the Tuatha Dé Danann. The Tuatha were once the gods of what is now Ireland.”

“Hurry it up, Valkyrie; this isn’t storytime,” the Morrigan growled.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m getting there,” Tamsin waved her off. “Anyway, so the Tuatha live in the Otherworld along with a bunch of dead Fae and the more ancient of the sídhe. The dead Fae are all well and good, but the Tuatha and the ancient sídhe were trapped in the Otherworld against their will and will take _any_ opportunity to break free. I’m willing to bet that several millennia spent basically underground are enough to piss anyone off enough to attack everyone they come across.”

“Oh, honey, the Tuatha and the sídhe are _more_ than just pissed,” the Morrigan interjected. “They’ve been holding a grudge since the day the Milesian king tricked them out of this world. I’d’ve thought that battle would’ve been swarmed with Valkyries. It was the fall of a kingdom, after all.”

“I was at the battle, not the negotiations,” Tamsin shrugged, downing another shot. She was almost to the bottom of the bottle.

“So if I’m hearing this correctly, the veil – which is already going to be thinner on Samhain – is starting to tear and let through a bunch of Fae with a thousand-year grudge?” Bo tried to understand.

“Try five thousand years,” the Morrigan corrected. “And that’s only half of it. There’s the possibility that the veil will be so thin on Samhain that it will tear completely, opening the door for every Fae in the Otherworld to take their vengeance.”

“What did we ever do to them?” Kenzi protested.

“As far as the Tuatha and the sídhe are concerned, everyone in this world has taken what’s rightfully theirs and they’ll do anything to get it back,” Dyson answered, his voice more grim than usual.

“I don’t suppose there’s some way to sew the veil shut?” Bo asked, only half-joking.

“You wish, succubus. Only the Tuatha and the sídhe have the power to close the veil and they’re the ones who want to get out.”

“But this has happened before,” Hale spoke up. “I grew up sitting through a whole lot of Clan Zamorra stories and some of them involve the tearing of the veil.”

“The last time this happened it was at the cost of thousands of sídhe,” the Morrigan replied. “They sealed the breach, but the tear wasn’t nearly as big and it was around Bealtaine.”

“I must’ve missed that battle,” Tamsin commented.

“You weren’t invited,” the Morrigan shot back.

“Hold up, there are sídhe here?” Kenzi asked, just as confused as Bo was. “I thought they were all trying to get out.”

“You’re looking at one, human,” Evony replied, spreading her hands.

“Trick told me once that you’re a leanan sídhe,” Bo remembered. “So you’re a descendent of the ancient sídhe?”

“Technically I’m a descendent of the Tuatha themselves, like all sídhe. But after that first tearing of the veil we became a rare commodity, and usually we’re _really_ hard to kill.”

“Almost up there with Valkyries,” Tamsin smirked. It was the Morrigan’s turn to scowl.

Bo sighed. “Ok. So. Army of angry Fae knocking at the door. Par for the course. Plan?”

_“Plan?!”_ the Morrigan shrieked. “You’re doing _nothing_ , succubus! All of this happened because of you!”

The air seemed to leave the room as the gathered Fae stared at Bo. “…Me? What…how is this _my_ fault?”

“Don’t think I didn’t hear about your little stunt: crossing between worlds without a guide! Figured you’d just crash your way back home without even thinking about the damage you’d be doing?” Evony tangled her fingers in her hair and made a noise of both rage and disgust.

“When did you cross between worlds?!” Tamsin snapped at Bo. The succubus was about to snap right back when she saw the Valkyrie’s expression. As tough as she was trying to look, worry brimmed in her bright green eyes.

“All I did was…jump from the Death Train…” Bo trailed off, slumping in her seat as the guilty realization draped across her shoulders.

“You _jumped_?!” Tamsin almost fell off her barstool. “You could have been torn to pieces!”

“Maybe if she had then we wouldn’t have this problem!” the Morrigan growled.

_“Evony,”_ Trick warned, and the low foreboding of his voice and unspoken command for silence made her flinch despite herself. With that one word, he had become every inch the Blood King.

“Look, if this is my fault, then I have to be the one to fix it, whatever it takes,” Bo declared, her expression one of decisive finality.

“Um, Bo-Bo, I hate to rain on your heroic parade, but you’ve already got the Wanderer to worry about,” Kenzi noted.

Tamsin spat out the shot she had half-downed. The human’s words brought all the pieces floating drunkenly in her mind into a much more sobering whole. “That was some mighty fine vodka you just wasted there, T,” said human remarked, but Tamsin didn’t fire off a retort, too concentrated on keeping her growing panic in check.

“Evony, what year did the veil tear the first time?”

“About 1100, give or take a couple decades.”

Wracked with guilt, Tamsin turned to the succubus. “Bo, that’s about the same time I made the deal with the Wanderer, and he’s the one who put you on the Death Train.”

“And if jumping from the Train specifically tore the veil, then that means the Wanderer would have to be on the other side, and that means…” Bo began with growing dread.

“…that he could be one of the ancient sídhe. Maybe even one of the Tuatha themselves.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glossary (I broke out _all_ my college notes for this chapter):  
> [sídhe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aos_S%C3%AD): Pronounced "shee." The ancient fairy folk of Ireland. The word "sí" can also be used to refer to their homes.  
> [leanan sídhe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leanan_s%C3%ADdhe): Pronounced "LEN-an shee" (they pronounce it incorrectly in the show). Literally "fairy queen" or "fairy lover." They act as muses to bards and poets, but they also slowly drive them insane. The song ["My Lagan Love"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYT5NKAIYI8) references leanan sídhe.  
> [Mór Ríoghan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Morr%C3%ADgan): Pronounced "more REE-(g)han" (the "g" is there, but barely). Goddess of battle and strife. Also known as a triple-form goddess, the three women named Nemhain ("ne-VAN"), Macha ("MA-ch(k)a"), and Badb ("bayv"), which leads us to...  
>  scald crows: Servants of Badb present on the battlefield. It's said they leapt from spear point to spear point calling out to and encouraging soldiers in battle.  
> [Tuatha Dé Danann](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatha_D%C3%A9_Danann): Pronounced "TU-a-ha day DAHN-an." Ancient Gods of Ireland that now inhabit the Underworld (if I'm reading my notes correctly). When they were defeated by the Milesian king a treaty was signed that would split the land between the Milesians and the Tuatha. The king tricked them by taking the land above ground and giving the Tuatha the land below.  
> The veil/Otherworld: The veil separates our world from the world of the sídhe. It is thinnest at Samhain and thickest at...  
> [Bealtaine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beltane): Pronounced "bel-tane" or "BEL-tah-nuh." One of the four Celtic seasonal festivals, held in May.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pro Writing Tip: When you have the dialogue for an argument perfectly planned out in your head, be sure to write it down so you don't forget.

Trick decided that Bo needed to be guarded at all times, to which the succubus rolled her eyes and Dyson immediately volunteered. Tamsin countered him, he retorted, and they ended up taking their argument to the stairwell to Trick’s lair so they might get into a full-out row without Bo hearing. In the meantime, the Morrigan, Hale, and Trick discussed what they could access from the Dark Archives, the Light Archives, and the Blood King’s library, respectively, while Bo listened in, hoping to glean at least a sliver of information about what they were dealing with. Kenzi, left to her own devices, decided that the fight would be more interesting to listen to and made her way to the top of the stairwell for some eavesdropping.

Kenzi couldn’t quite make out what Dyson and Tamsin were saying, but she picked out a few pieces here and there, mostly from Tamsin. It began with something like “I live there anyway,” but soon escalated to “I took you down with a glare when I was at the end of my life cycle; imagine what I could do to you now,” which made the human smirk. Whatever Dyson said next had to be a low blow to the Valkyrie, if his vehemence was anything to go by. Kenzi winced as the unmistakable sound of fist hitting flesh confirmed her suspicions. The Russian girl didn’t catch the beginning of Tamsin’s sentence, but she caught the end as the Valkyrie headed up the stairs speaking in a low, menacing tone. “…no matter what your feelings for her are, wolf.”

“And what about _your_ feelings for her?” Dyson challenged. Tamsin’s footsteps stopped.

“I owe her a few. That’s all.”

 _Yeah, right,_ the human thought with a smirk before making herself scarce.

…

Tamsin sat almost lazily on the couch, her body turned to face the door. She was idly playing with the hilt of her sword lying across her thigh, the blade stretching out to touch the floor. Her thoughts split between the night’s revelations and her own predicament: the one involving drooping wings with feathers of coal. Tamsin knew full well that she had Fallen; the issue was acceptance and admitting to herself that she may stay that way until the end, never to set foot in Valhalla again. But there was only one way to make it right, and that was a choice the Valkyrie wasn’t ready to make, especially when she wasn’t the one who would have to choose.

 _This is just_ so _fucked up,_ Tamsin groaned to herself, rubbing her forehead. “What do you want, succubus?” she asked without turning.

“How did you know it was me?”

“The stairs creak and Kenzi’s still snoring.”

“How can you even _hear_ that?” Bo asked.

“I’m a Valkyrie, succubabe.” This time she did look at Bo. The succubus had foregone her kimono and was clad only in a strapless nightie of black silk, the hem of which ended halfway down her thighs. Tamsin was glad it was dark or the succubus might have seen the blush creeping across the blonde’s face before she turned back to the door. “I’m just good like that.”

Bo said nothing, instead sitting beside Tamsin on the couch. There was silence for a bit, but a comfortable one. After awhile, Bo reached over and ran her hand along the hilt of Tamsin’s sword. “It’s beautiful,” she murmured.

Tamsin smirked with pride, taking a moment to admire the hilt herself. The grip was wrapped in fine leather, well-worn from countless battles. The pommel had a hexagonal base, the six sides curving in to form a sharp point. But the crosspiece was by far the most beautiful: shining wings that curved out and around to touch the blade. Each wing was intricately engraved to the tiniest detail, down to the feathers that reached out to brush steel.

“Valkyries don’t choose their swords; they choose us,” Tamsin replied. She wasn’t sure why she was telling Bo the story, but something about it just felt right in that moment. “When we’re five years old we’re brought to a grand hall in Valhalla filled with more types of weapons you can imagine. One of the weapons will call to us and we follow that call until we find what we’re destined to wield.” Tamsin gave a little laugh, smiling down at her sword. “When I was three I managed to break into the hall. I can just barely remember finding the sword and being annoyed that I couldn’t reach it. When Acacia found me I had knocked it from its stand and was trying to lift it. Apparently I looked up at her, waved the hilt as best I could and went ‘this one this one this one!’”

Bo grinned at Tamsin and the sight made the Valkyrie’s heart feel strange. “Was she mad at you for breaking in?”

“Nah. If anything it meant that I was destined to be one of the best Valkyries.”

“‘One of’? I thought you were the best,” Bo teased.

Tamsin smirked again. “That I am, succulette. Well, Acacia nearly had me beat, but yeah, I’m the best.”

“Who’s Acacia?”

Tamsin’s smile faded. “Someone important,” she ground out, and the tone of her voice was warning enough for Bo to drop the subject. Tamsin didn’t let the silence linger long before asking, “So what brings you down here at this hour, succubus?”

“Some bird won’t stop rapping on the windowsill. I think it’s a magpie. Those are black and white, right?”

Adrenaline spiked in Tamsin’s veins and she looked at Bo with a serious, almost panicked expression. “A black and white bird?”

“Yeah, it’s got a black head and body and – ”

“ – a white hood?” Tamsin finished for her.

Bo blinked in surprise. “Yeah, that’s it.”

“Bo, that’s a scald crow!” the Valkyrie exclaimed. As one, the two women leapt to their feet and bolted up the stairs, Tamsin keeping a tight grip on her sword.

When they burst into Bo’s bedroom, the bird was still there, fixing them with a piercing obsidian gaze. Once it was sure it had their attention, it let out a long, low caw. The call was harsh and grating and filled with ominous promise, and Tamsin and Bo shivered at the sound. Having delivered its message, the bird departed, its wings silent in the darkest hour of night.

“That was a warning,” Tamsin said without looking away from the window. Only when Bo grabbed her arm did she turn to meet a much softer gaze.

“Tamsin…will you stay with me tonight? Please?”

It was a bad idea – the _worst_ idea. But the Valkyrie couldn’t deny Bo anything. “Sure, succulette. I’ll be right here.”

Bo gave her a shaky smile before turning and crawling into bed. Tamsin’s heart called after her and she followed the pull, sitting atop the sheets as Bo crawled under the covers. “G’night, Tamsin,” she whispered.

“G’night, Bo.”

…

About an hour after Bo’s breathing had evened, she curled up against the Valkyrie and began to whimper, caught in a nightmare. “Shh,” Tamsin soothed, reaching out to stroke the succubus’s hair.

“Tamsin…” Bo cried in her sleep.

“I’m right here, Bo. I’ll always be here. You’re safe.”

At the Valkyrie’s words and gentle touch, the succubus began to calm, eventually returning to peaceful slumber. But still Tamsin ran her fingers through Bo’s hair, sighing as she did. She knew this was only making everything worse, but if this was all she could ever have, the Valkyrie would cherish every moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [This](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Corvus_cornix_-perching-8.jpg) is what scald crows are said to look like. Also, I wrote this chapter to the song ["The Mummer's Dance,"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc7Ke9Org9U) by Loreena McKennit. Give it a listen, if you like.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm borrowing an OC from one of my other Lost Girl stories 'cause apparently I'm allowed to do that.

Tamsin got to the Dal a few hours before everyone else was supposed to, grabbing two pints and a corner booth. She didn’t have to wait long before her friend arrived, and the Valkyrie knew she was there long before she saw her. Nearby Fae moved aside with wary glances over their shoulders and the ripple continued in Tamsin’s direction until the cause stood before the Valkyrie with her hands on her hips.

Tamsin smirked and spread her hands. “And lo, the empath parted the crowd as Moses parted the sea.”

“And yet she still can’t get any reaction from the blonde bitch.” The other Fae regarded the Valkyrie with a deep brown gaze before sliding onto the opposite bench. “Good to see you, Tamsin.”

“You, too, Kayleigh,” the Valkyrie replied, and the two reached across the table to clasp hands.

The empath leaned back and put her hands behind her head, letting her long brown curls cascade over her shoulders. “Beer?” she questioned in surprise as she looked at Tamsin’s choice of drink. “Wow, something must _really_ be wrong.”

“Eh,” the Valkyrie shrugged. “It’s too early for vodka.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Tamsin?” The blonde rolled her eyes, making the empath chuckle. “But in as much seriousness as I can muster, what’s up? It’s been awhile.”

Tamsin shrugged again. “I just wanted to ask you a few questions about your mom, that’s all.”

Kayleigh gave her a skeptical look. “Uh, you knew my mom longer than I’ve been alive; you probably know a shit ton more than I ever will, no matter how many stories you tell me.”

“Yeah, but we kind of lost touch before she met Elisedd. I mean, I heard about him, and I heard she had you, but the most contact we ever had after that was waving to each other across that World War I battlefield.”

“Wait, so you want to know about her married life? Seriously?”

“I just want to know what Alexandra was like around you and Elisedd,” Tamsin replied defensively. “That’s all.”

Kayleigh canted her head to the side, and Tamsin knew she was actively sensing her emotions. After a moment, a look of triumphant realization and amusement crossed the empath’s face. “Ohhhh, _I_ see what this is about now.” She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table. “ _You_ want to know if my mother Fell.” When Tamsin didn’t respond, Kayleigh chuckled. “Not all Valkyries who get married Fall, you know. Falling is rare and Rising is even rarer for a _lot_ of good reasons.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know the lore and shit.” Tamsin waved dismissively. “Alexandra just doesn’t seem like the Falling type.”

“You wouldn’t want to know this for any _personal_ reasons, would you?” Kayleigh smirked.

“And what would make you think that?” Tamsin challenged.

It was the empath’s turn to roll her eyes. “Bitch, please. Your worry is emanating so far from your body that I almost tripped over it when I went to sit down. You can’t hide shit from me, Tam.”

Tamsin sighed and hung her head, and Kayleigh could feel the weight of her weariness and guilt. Studying her for a long moment, Kayleigh sat back and picked up her pint, draining the contents in one long swig. “Yeah, Tam, Mom Fell,” she replied quietly as she stood up. “But she also Rose.” Tamsin snapped her head up and gazed at her friend in astonishment. Kayleigh met her stare as she took a few steps backward before turning and leaving the Dal, her passage once again parting the crowd of Fae.

Tamsin watched her go before looking down at her beer as if the bottom of the glass held all the answers she was seeking. If Kayleigh was right, then there was still hope…barely.

…

Bo and Kenzi entered the Dal to find Tamsin lounging at the bar, well into the vodka. “Already? Really?” the succubus protested.

“It’s never too early for vodka, succubabe.”

“Amen, Lil’ T!” Kenzi agreed, high-fiving the woman. “Share me some of the good stuff.” Tamsin obliged with a smile, and the two women clinked their glasses together before downing the shots.

“If you keep that up you’ll have me cleaned out by the end of the night,” Trick sighed. “Now come on – we have work to do.”

Bo followed her grandfather eagerly, but Tamsin took her time sliding off the barstool. She’d barely taken half a step before she doubled over gasping, pressing a hand to her chest. The succubus didn’t notice, but Kenzi was immediately at her side. “Whoa, Tam-Tam, you ok? What’s wrong?”

The Valkyrie regained her composure, but not before Kenzi saw the anguished look on her face as she glanced at the stairwell leading to Trick’s Lair. “I’m fine, short-stack,” she managed. She squared her shoulders and followed the other Fae. “Just a cramp.” The human watched her with suspicion, anything but convinced, before sighing and following as well.

Bo smiled at Tamsin when she appeared in Trick’s Lair, but Tamsin didn’t look at her, instead picking a book from the enormous pile the Blood King had set aside and finding a corner to sit in. Hurt, the succubus looked to Kenzi for some sort of answer, but the human could only shrug. Shaking her feelings aside, Bo turned to Trick and asked, “Where are the others?”

“Dyson and Hale are looking through the Light Archives and the Morrigan and Lauren are searching the Dark Archives.”

Bo looked up from the book she had been examining. “Lauren?” she asked, anger edging her voice with steel. Tamsin wanted so desperately to reach out and comfort the succubus, but Kenzi was closer, rubbing Bo’s shoulder and giving her a sad smile. Bo’s responding smile was weak and resigned, fading before it could truly form.

“This is everything I could find with reference to the Tuatha,” Trick continued obliviously, gesturing to the pile of books. “I used to have more, but so much was lost and divided during the Fae War that my records are incomplete. The Tuatha are old – _very_ old, and very powerful.”

“That’s _such_ a comforting thing to know, Trickster,” Kenzi commented with dripping sarcasm and an irritated expression. He gave her a stern look in response.

“We need to know what we’re up against, Kenzi. I’d rather know the worst than be taken by surprise.”

Tamsin, meanwhile, had used the conversational distraction to peruse the contents of Trick’s shelf. A small, familiar-looking tome caught her eye and further examination revealed a Norse rune on the front cover. Glancing at the others to make sure she was unobserved, Tamsin slipped the book into the inside pocket of her leather jacket, and it was just thin enough to leave no indication of its presence. Sauntering back to her chosen corner of the room, the Valkyrie retook her position on the floor and began to read. The others followed her example, Kenzi and Bo doing so with long-suffering sighs.

Kenzi opened her book and groaned. “Triiiiiick, this one’s all in gibberish!” she whined.

Trick craned his neck to see what she was looking at. “That’s because you’re holding a copy of the _Táin Bó Cuailnge_ ,” he replied. “And it’s not gibberish, it’s Irish.”

“Switch?” she pleaded. Trick couldn’t help but give her an affectionate smile as they traded books.

“Shame you can’t read Irish, short-stack,” Tamsin commented. “The _Táin_ is pretty epic.”

“Cliff Notes version?”

“It translates to _The Cattle Raid of Cooley_. That may sound boring, but some pretty awesome battles went down then, many involving Cú Chulainn.”

“Cuckoo who?”

Tamsin sighed, even as she grinned at the human. “Cú Chulainn, the Hound of Ulster. One of the finest warriors ever to have lived. When he finally fell in battle he tied himself to a rock so he could die on his feet. Every Valkyrie around wanted to be the one to claim that man’s soul, me included. He went to Tír na nÓg, though.”

“And that would be…?”

“The Land of Eternal Youth. There are a lot of places warriors can go when they die, and that happens to be the Irish one. Valhalla is Norse, but you don’t have to be Nordic for your soul to be taken there.”

Kenzi clapped her hands over her ears. “Enough! Too confusing!”

Tamsin chuckled. “Not my fault your human brain is too tiny to handle it.”

“If there was something I could throw at you, it would be thrown,” Kenzi snarked at her, which only made the Valkyrie laugh more.

“Found something!” Bo called. “I mean, I think I found something…”

Kenzi scooched over on the couch while Trick and Tamsin got up to look, Tamsin against her better judgment. “That’s the genealogy of the Tuatha,” Trick identified, examining the complicated web of names.

“Could one of them be the Wanderer?” Bo asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

“It’s possible, I suppose,” Trick admitted.

“Uh, problem: it looks like they all died thousands of years ago,” Kenzi pointed out, indicating the notes beside each name.

“That’s not going to matter if he’s coming from the Otherworld,” Tamsin replied. “That said, living beings are usually closer to the veil than dead ones, so it’s more likely that the Wanderer is one of the ancient sídhe.”

“We hope,” Trick added darkly.

“But if the sídhe are the ones closer to the veil then how was Mór Ríoghan able to send scald crows after the Morrigan and me?” Bo asked.

Trick looked up sharply. “You’ve seen a scald crow?” When the succubus nodded and told him about the previous night, her grandfather let out an anxious sigh. “It’s not safe for you to be at your house anymore.”

“It was _never_ safe to be at that house,” Tamsin commented.

“Can’t argue with that,” Bo agreed.

“Bo, you’re going to have to find another place to stay,” her grandfather finished.

“She and Kenzi can stay with me,” Tamsin offered. As long as Kenzi was around, the Valkyrie would be fine.

“Tam-Tam, I love you dearly, but I am _not_ sleeping on your couch,” Kenzi cut in. “I’ll see if I can stay at Hale’s.”

Tamsin’s heart dropped. It would look too suspicious if she rescinded her offer now, and Bo was looking at her with an expression of thankful hope. The Valkyrie sighed, once again unable to deny the succubus anything.

“Come on, you two – let’s get you packed.”

…

“Tamsin, could you help me with something?” Kenzi’s voice floated down the stairs. The Valkyrie looked towards the ceiling and sighed. She’d been pacing the living room for a good fifteen minutes, fiddling with the hilt of the sword at her hip as she so often did when there was something on her mind. “Pleeeeeeease?” came the human’s voice.

“Keep your pants on, short-stack, I’ll be right up.” Trudging up the stairs to where Kenzi slept, she found herself standing in an empty room. “…Kenzi?”

The door slammed shut behind her and Tamsin whirled around to see the human leaning against it, blocking her escape route. “Talk,” she ordered, folding her arms over her chest.

Tamsin shifted uncomfortably. “About what?”

Kenzi gave her a look that was both affectionate and scathing. “You know very well what, missy. You’ve been avoiding Bo, that _so_ wasn’t a cramp you had at the bar, and don’t think I didn’t see you take that book from Trick’s shelf.”

The Valkyrie blinked in surprise. “How…?”

“Nicking things is my thing, Lil’ T,” the Russian girl replied. “Now _spill_.” When Tamsin said nothing, Kenzi’s expression softened. Walking forward and taking the Valkyrie’s hands, she continued, “You know you can tell me anything, right? Tell Mama Kenzi what’s wrong.”

Defeated, Tamsin sighed. “It’s a long, complicated story, momz.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glossary (more notes and the book [Legendary Ireland](http://www.amazon.com/Legendary-Ireland-Myths-Legends/dp/1847175635/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422285735&sr=8-1&keywords=legendary+ireland), by Eithne Massey):  
> [Táin Bó Cuailnge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%A1in_B%C3%B3_C%C3%BAailnge): If I recall correctly, pronounced "TAWN bo COOL-a-nuh." Translates to "The Cattle Raid of Cooley." Part of the Ulster Cycle, which is the second of four cycles used to divide Irish mythology. One of the prominent characters in the Táin is...  
> [Cú Chulainn](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%BA_Chulainn): Pronounced "koo KULL-an." Warrior known as the Hound of Ulster. He really did tie himself to a rock as he was dying so he could die on his feet. It's said that it was a few days after his death before any crow would come near him because no one was convinced he was dead.  
> [Tír na nÓg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%ADr_na_n%C3%93g): Pronounced "TEER na nohg" (long "o"). "Land of Eternal Youth"/"Land of the Young"/"Land of Youth" etc. As far as I know, warriors don't actually go there when they die; I took a few liberties for purposes of the story.  
> The family tree of the Tuatha Dé Danann can be found on the Wikipedia page linked in Chapter Two.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this plot device has been used before, but again, I wanted to put my own spin on it. I read everyone else's spins and went, "Hey, this looks like fun."

Still holding onto Tamsin’s hands, Kenzi backed onto the bed until she sat cross-legged on the mattress, looking up at the Valkyrie. Tamsin was still looking at the floor, trying to figure out the best way to begin her story. She opened her mouth a few times, then shut it again, each time with a shaky sigh as she forced back tears.

“Valkyries… A Valkyrie is trained for battle. Our sole purpose lies in war and in bringing soldiers back to Valhalla. It’s what we’re made for. But sometimes…”

Tamsin pulled back from Kenzi and began to pace, her hands gesturing in halting, trembling movements. “Sometimes…if a Valkyrie…if they meet someone… Sometimes Valkyries find a warrior. These warriors are called ‘chosen’ warriors, but the Valkyries can’t really help who they…who the warriors are. If a Valkyrie falls for a warrior, then she…well…Falls.

“A Fallen Valkyrie’s life cycle immediately becomes her last. She gets her wings, but they’re black and rough. It means that she’s accepted the Valkyrie Bond. Her purpose is now her warrior, and she will never set foot in Valhalla again. She can still take souls to the gate, but she cannot pass through. If she dies, she goes to Fólkvangr – Freya’s realm.”

“So the Valkyrie Bond is when a Valkyrie falls in love?” Kenzi interpreted, her voice kind.

Tamsin nodded. “Yeah.” She sighed again. “A Fallen Valkyrie is constantly drawn to her warrior. She literally feels a pull in her heart to follow them. If her warrior is close, her heart even begins to form a connection, but that connection breaks when the warrior moves away, causing the Valkyrie a moment of pain. She is completely devoted to her warrior, even if…even if her warrior doesn’t feel the same.”

“And if the warrior does?”

“If a warrior loves his or her Valkyrie in return then he or she can accept the bond.”

“What happens to them?”

“The Valkyrie Rises. Her wings become pure white and she and her warrior become one. Their powers grow. Their lives become entwined and can continue for millennia. Some of the lore says that one bonded couple lived for over ten thousand years. The passage says something like ‘civilizations rose and fell around them but time could not touch them.’” Tamsin’s indrawn breath quivered with unshed tears. “Falling and Rising used to be uncommon, but not rare. Bonding used to be something that was cherished. Valued. That a warrior could be so strong as to sway a Valkyrie and for the two to be together. Unstoppable. But that…not anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Because of the drawbacks of the bond. Warriors would bond to Valkyries for the sake of power and then try to go back to old lovers only to find that they could neither love them nor…feel pleasure from them at all. A Valkyrie and her bonded warrior can only find joy in each other. Sometimes warriors would kill Valkyries in their sleep to try and break the bond, but it never worked. The bond is eternal. Valhalla is filled with more than a few resentful warriors and heartbroken Valkyrie. It happened so many times that most Fallen Valkyries would just accept their fate without question knowing it would hurt less in the long run.”

“But what if they didn’t just ‘accept their fate’? What if they chose to complete the bond? How does a warrior even accept the bond?”

“The Valkyrie has to offer it and the warrior has to accept. But once the Valkyrie offers, there’s no turning back: in that moment, her life is in her warrior’s hands.”

“What happens to the Valkyrie if the warrior says no?”

Tamsin shrugged. She’d yet to look Kenzi in the eye. “It depends. Sometimes the Valkyrie just continues living her life as Fallen. Some Valkyries lose their wings. Some actually die.”

“Of a broken heart?”

Tamsin let out a weak laugh. “Yeah, pretty much.”

Kenzi was silent for a moment as she contemplated the Valkyrie’s story, letting everything sink in. “So what does this have to do with you, Tam? Why is this bonding thing worrying you?”

The blonde bit her lip. “Momz…did Bo ever tell you about my wings?”

The human nodded. “Yeah, she said they were gorgeous. White with hints of brown.”

The fact that Bo had called her wings ‘gorgeous’ lifted Tamsin’s heart even as it tore. If the succubus could see her wings now, she wouldn’t think so highly of them. “Ok, um…I’m gonna show you my wings now. You’re gonna see my face, but don’t freak out, ok? I’m not casting doubt on you or anything.” The Valkyrie took a step back from the bed and let her face darken and hollow to its true form.

Kenzi had to force herself not to reel backwards when she saw Tamsin’s face. Bo had said that it was terrifying yet hauntingly beautiful, but to Kenzi it was just terrifying. She couldn’t read an ounce of emotion from the woman who called her momz and it scared her more than she wanted to admit. But fear was replaced by awe and then dismay as Tamsin’s wings reached from her back and stretched to their full length. “Oh, Tam-Tam,” Kenzi murmured, standing from the bed and reaching out to touch the feathers.

“Don’t,” Tamsin warned, holding out her hand. “You’ll be cut. A Valkyrie’s wings can act as both weapon and shield. Only one person in a Valkyrie’s life can safely touch her wings.” Kenzi nodded, but didn’t quite pull her hand away. Seeing this, Tamsin reached back and pulled out a feather, handing it to the human. “Hurry. A Valkyrie feather doesn’t last long on its own.” Kenzi gently took the feather in her hands, her heart sinking even further when she felt the rough texture. A moment later, the feather disappeared in a wisp of black smoke. “It’s supposed to be a sort of white mist…” Tamsin mourned as she watched it go. With a shuddering exhale, she retracted her wings and let the darkness fade from her face. Kenzi ran forward and wrapped her arms around the Valkyrie’s neck. Tamsin returned the embrace, and the human could feel the blonde’s tears through the fabric of her shirt.

“When you doubled over in the Dal, that wasn’t a cramp – that was the connection breaking in your heart,” Kenzi realized, not letting go.

“Yeah.”

“So that means…” Kenzi pulled back and looked at the Valkyrie in shock.

“Yeah,” Tamsin repeated, hanging her head. After a pause, Kenzi lifted the blonde’s chin with her fingers and when the Valkyrie met the human’s gaze, she was surprised to find her smiling.

“She _does_ care for you, you know.”

Tamsin let out a breath in a sad sort of scoff. “Right. Cares. As a friend.”

“I think it’s more than that. But there’s always time. Well, we kind of have to defeat a horde of sídhe, but after that there’ll be time to figure this shit out.” Kenzi cupped Tamsin’s face in her hands. “Thank you for trusting me with this, T, even though I kind of strong-armed it out of you.” This provoked the smallest of smiles from the Valkyrie, which was what Kenzi was hoping for. “I’m here for you, ok? Whenever you need me.”

“Thanks, momz,” the Valkyrie whispered, truly grateful.

A familiar voice muffled its way through the ceiling. “Tamsin? Kenzi? You guys ready? Where are you?”

“Keep your pants on, sugarsnatch, we’ll be right down!” Kenzi shouted back. She gave Tamsin another hug. “We’ll figure this out. I’m helping you figure this out whether you like it or not.”

Her words gave Tamsin just the smallest bit of hope.

…

“Nice digs,” Bo commented as she and Tamsin walked into the Valkyrie’s apartment. “Not much for decorating, though, are you?”

Tamsin shrugged. “No need.” The place was surprisingly bright, but bare and sparsely furnished with a very utilitarian feel to it. “Bedroom and bathroom are upstairs. I’ll be down here if you need me.”

“You’re…not gonna stay with me again?”

Tamsin felt the tug at her heart and wished so desperately that she could fight it. “If you want, succulette. I suppose I can stay nearby.” The grin that lit Bo’s face at this response made everything worth it.

They changed separately – Tamsin into a t-shirt and sweats while Bo wore the infuriating black nightie again. As they had the night before, the succubus crawled under the covers while the Valkyrie stayed atop them, resting her sword by her nightstand. “Aren’t you going to sleep?” Bo asked.

“I’m not tired.”

Bo propped herself up and gave Tamsin a skeptical look. “You were awake all night last night.”

“Valkyries can stay awake as long as they like. And I had a nap earlier.”

“Tamsin…”

The Valkyrie let out a long-suffering sigh. “I suppose I’m a little tired.”

“Good. Get under here and go to sleep.”

Tamsin obeyed, thinking that as long as she and Bo kept their distance on the bed she’d be fine. But the succubus decided to curl up against the Valkyrie again, throwing an arm across her waist. “G’night, Tamsin.”

Tamsin couldn’t breathe – had to _force_ herself to breathe. Aching with the knowledge that she may never have more than this, she accepted what she could, pulling the succubus into her embrace. “G’night, Bo.”

…

_Bo was dreaming._

_She was back in that dark room – that blue-lit room with the elaborate, canopied crib. She was being carried, but she wasn’t. She was watching, but she wasn’t. The shadow was carrying her, placing the baby in the crib. And then_ he _was the one watching, staring down at her with both pride and malice._

_“Mo pháiste,” the deep voice resonated. “I have such plans for you.”_

…

Bo sat up with a gasp, and her movement woke the Valkyrie beside her. “What, Bo, what is it?”

“I think…” the succubus tried to gather her thoughts. “It was a dream. A weird, _weird_ dream.” She paused before asking, “Tamsin, do you speak Irish at all?”

The Valkyrie rubbed sleep from her eyes as she tried to process what was going on. “A little, why?”

“Does ‘mo fawshta’ mean anything?”

“‘ _Mo pháiste_ ’? It means ‘my child.’ Why, where’d you hear that?”

Bo didn’t answer as her thoughts became suspicions she couldn’t help but dread. “Tamsin…is it possible that the Wanderer is my father?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Language lesson time! (breaks out college notes):  
> I'ma try to keep this as simple as possible. Irish is weird in that when you put a possessive before a word, some words take extra letters. So separately, "mo" ("moe") means "my" and "páiste" ("PAWSH-tuh") means "child." But when you put them together, you get "mo pháiste" ("FAWSH-tuh"), because the "p" takes an extra letter.
> 
> I listened to the soundtrack from the movie _Ink_ while writing this, particularly the song "[Jacob's Chain](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO50-_njp0s)." Have a listen, if you like.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I try not to make these things too OC-heavy, but I need a few for purposes of the plot, so I'm borrowing from my other story again. I'll try to keep the OCs to the side, though.

Tamsin wasn’t sure she heard the succubus correctly. “Your…father? Bo, you had a _dream_.”

“But it was the same dream I had before my Dawning, and _during_ my Dawning. And where else would I have heard that phrase?”

“You might have seen it in what you were reading yesterday,” Tamsin argued.

“But there’s no _way_ I could’ve pronounced it correctly. I got a glance of the _Táin_ when Kenzi passed it to Trick and I couldn’t read shit.”

Tamsin sat up with a sigh, rubbing her eyes again. “Whatever you’re dreaming about is probably just a reaction to everything going on, ok? It’s not that unusual.”

“Why won’t you believe me?!” Bo cried, actually grabbing her pillow and hitting the Valkyrie with it. “I know it’s stupid and maybe doesn’t make sense and is maybe impossible but what if it _is_ possible! Think about it, Tamsin! He had to be able to get me on the Death Train in the first place and wouldn’t he have to reach through the veil to do that? Wouldn’t that mean that there was already a tear in the veil that my mom could’ve been taken through and escaped through with me?”

Tamsin’s heart twisted in her chest as she was slammed with the weight of her guilt. She’d never told Bo what the Rune Glass was for. Never told her how it was she’d been able to be taken. Bo may have torn the veil by jumping from the Train, but Tamsin was just as much at fault for putting her there as the Wanderer was.

“Hey, hey,” Tamsin soothed, rubbing the succubus’s shoulders. “I don’t _not_ believe you. It just seems really impossible. There’s still a lot we don’t know and still a lot we have to find out, but I don’t want you to be scared of something that might not be true.”

Bo let out a shuddering sigh as she fell into Tamsin’s embrace, wrapping her arms around the Valkyrie’s neck. Tamsin drew her back down to lie against the pillows. “Go back to sleep, Bo.”

The succubus relented, snuggling closer to Tamsin, but after a moment of silence, she whispered, “I’m not scared. Not so long as I have you.”

Tamsin closed her eyes against the tears that threatened to fall, struggling to keep control of her emotions. By the time she had calmed, Bo had fallen asleep. The Valkyrie watched her for a moment before pressing a kiss to her hair. “I will always watch over you, _mo laoch_.”

…

Kayleigh was waiting for Tamsin at a booth in the Dal but she wasn’t expecting the Valkyrie to have a human in tow. “Yours?” she asked.

“Hey, I am a free woman,” Kenzi protested. “Unless it gets me in trouble. Then I’m Bo’s.”

Kayleigh’s eyebrows touched her hairline. “Bo? The Unaligned Succubus? Wow, Tamsin, you’re really keeping fine company these days, aren’t you?”

“Momz, this is Kayleigh. Kayleigh, Kenzi.”

“Momz?” the empath repeated, eyebrows rising even higher.

Tamsin rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. “She…kind of raised me at the beginning of this life cycle.”

“Nice to meet you,” Kenzi said as she extended her hand. Kayleigh just looked at it for a moment before looking back up at the Russian.

“You’re so human it’s cute,” Kayleigh chuckled. “No one _ever_ touches an empath without permission.”

Kenzi folded her arms over her chest and arched an eyebrow. “Permission to bitchslap?”

“I like you. Tamsin, I like her.” Kayleigh held her hand up for a high five, which Kenzi returned with a smirk before she and the Valkyrie slid onto the opposite bench. “So, more questions?”

“All the deets you got,” Kenzi replied.

“I would be surprised that you’re in the loop but I can feel the strength of your affection for each other.”

Kenzi’s eyes widened. “So you’re some scary, thought-reading-and-feeling Fae? Like what’s-her-face’s daughter?”

Kayleigh laughed. “I think I know exactly whose daughter you’re talking about. I can’t read your mind, though. Empaths read and feed off of other people’s emotions. We can sense what people are feeling and how strong that feeling is. You two have an obvious connection that’s almost parental on your side, so hearing that you’re ‘momz’ makes sense.”

“So why can’t people touch you without permission?”

“Our senses heighten through touch and sometimes it can be overwhelming. Not many people want to be in contact with empaths anyway, though because of the nature of our power.”

Tamsin smirked. “You should watch her walk through a room – everyone moves out of the way.”

“Dude, for realz?” Kenzi exclaimed, gaping at Kayleigh. It was the empath’s turn to smirk.

“Tell you what – I’ll go get us some beer and you can see for yourself.”

Kenzi watched as the empath got to her feet and made her way to the bar. Nearby Fae instinctively moved away from her, causing a ripple effect in the crowd again. The Fae drifted back together after a minute or two but immediately parted again as Kayleigh made her way back with three pints of beer. “That’s _awesome_!” the human grinned as the empath sat down and passed the drinks around.

“Glad you think so. Most people do it out of fear instead of respect for our sensitivity, though. I actually met Tamsin because she was the one person who didn’t move away from me when I sat down at the bar.”

“Sounds like my Lil’ T,” Kenzi quipped, throwing an arm around Tamsin’s shoulder. The Valkyrie rolled her eyes and shoved her off. “So what makes you the expert on…this slight problem?”

“Well, to answer that I have to continue with how the two of us met. Tamsin cast doubt on this creeper that was coming onto her and made him crawl out of the bar sobbing. I said something like ‘nicely done’ and she looked right at me, but I didn’t flinch. She knew that meant I’d seen a Valkyrie’s face enough times not to be fazed, so we got to talking and it turns out she knew my mother.”

“Alexandra,” Tamsin nodded. “I saw her take off six heads with one swing of her longsword back in the American Rev. We lost touch after that, so I’d heard that she’d found herself a husband and a kid, but I’d never met either until I ran into Kayleigh about twenty years back.”

“So when you say she found a husband…” Kenzi began, her lips curving into a wry smile.

“And that’s what Tamsin asked me yesterday,” Kayleigh brought the story back around. “And I’ll tell you what I told her: not all Valkyries who get married Fall, nor do they necessarily Rise.”

“But your parents did?”

Kayleigh nodded with a proud smile. “They did indeed. And now you want me to tell you everything I know about it, right?”

“All the deets,” Kenzi repeated with a smirk.

Kayleigh canted her head to the side and gave her a long look. “Ok,” she shrugged. “What do you want to know?”

There was a pause as both human and Valkyrie frowned. “Um…I’m not sure we actually thought that far ahead…” Tamsin admitted, and Kayleigh laughed.

“Start simple, then.”

“Did your mom Fall when she met your dad?” Kenzi asked.

“The way she told it, she said she fell the moment she looked into his eyes, but she didn’t actually Fall until about a week later. She didn’t tell him, though – didn’t want to pressure him into anything, even though they’d already begun a relationship.”

“When _did_ she tell him?”

“They were stuck in some crevasse outside some battle somewhere and she had to fly them both out. When he saw her wings, she had to explain the whole thing to him. He accepted the bond right then.”

“There’s no ritual or something? No bonding ‘I do’ vows?”

Kayleigh shrugged again. “There are, but apparently they’re different for everyone.” The empath chuckled. “Mom said that when she finished explaining things to Dad he got down on one knee, pulled a ring out of his back pocket, and said ‘I’ve been meaning to ask you if I could keep you in my life forever’ and she smiled at him and said ‘You already have me, you idiot.’ And then her wings turned white.”

“Aww!” Kenzi gushed, and it was Kayleigh’s turn to roll her eyes. “So they’re off on adventures living on into eternity?”

The empath’s smile faded. “Not quite,” she murmured.

Realizing she’d crossed a line, Kenzi stammered, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean – ”

“No, it’s ok,” Kayleigh cut her off. “If you want to know everything then you need to hear everything. Just because a Valkyrie and a warrior are bonded doesn’t mean something can’t happen to them. For my parents… It was World War II. Dad had been drafted, and Mom wasn’t about to leave him or me, so I went with them to the battlefield. Most of the generals were Fae who knew us, so they let us stay. Dad and I took away fear and Mom inspired courage. When the battle was over and the guns had stopped firing, Dad hadn’t come back, so Mom and I went out to look for him. We found him dying, a gunshot wound in his stomach and no way to stop the inevitable. Mom showed her face and spread her wings. They both squeezed my hands and told me to be good. She bent to kiss him – to share his last breath – and then she wrapped her wings around him and took him Valhalla. Neither of them came back.”

Silence settled around the trio. Tamsin reached out and took Kayleigh’s hand, which the empath accepted with a smile. Not wanting the solemnity to linger too long, Kenzi changed the subject, hoping to brighten the mood. “So, uh, your dad was the empath?”

“Yup,” Kayleigh replied, releasing Tamsin’s hand and leaning back. “I think Mom was a little disappointed that I didn’t turn out like her, but she still taught me everything she knew. She used to show me her true face when I was in trouble,” she laughed. “Once I was old enough to start fighting the doubt on my own, she taught me the rest.”

“You can fight it?” Kenzi asked, surprised.

“Not at full power,” Kayleigh replied. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Tamsin, but Valkyries don’t need to use their full power of doubt on people if they don’t have to. If they _do_ , it’s enough to kill some of the most powerful of Fae within seconds. You can learn to resist it in small doses, but not at full force.” When Tamsin nodded, Kayleigh continued, “The only exception is a Valkyrie’s chosen warrior. They can resist any and all doubt the Valkyrie can project and oh – here’s a little secret for you…” She bent forward and Tamsin and Kenzi did the same. “They can resist doubt that _any_ Valkyrie projects.”

Tamsin gaped at the empath. “They…what?!”

Kayleigh leaned back again with her hands behind her head. “True story. I saw it for myself when I was a kid. Mom was teaching me swordplay while Dad looked on and another Valkyrie came up and challenged Mom. Well, she didn’t challenge her so much as put on her Valkyrie face and started throwing insults. Dad got up and walked towards the Valkyrie and she turned and cast so much doubt on him that even _I_ could feel it. Dad didn’t flinch, though. He marched right up to her and immediately tore her down.”

“Tore her down how?” Kenzi frowned.

“Just with his words and his power. He could feel all her insecurities and hit her with every single one. It was his own way of casting doubt, I guess. Calm as you please he just laid all her worst feelings in front of her, some of which shocked even my mom. Turns out the Valkyrie was just jealous of the bond. The Valkyrie turned on her heel and never bothered us again. The story must’ve gotten around, ‘cause sometimes when other Valkyries would walk past my dad they would give him a nod of respect. Mom thought the whole thing was hilarious, even though she practically swooned at the way Dad defended her.”

“Alexandra? Swoon?” Tamsin repeated. “Now I _know_ you’re making this up.”

“Believe what you like, Tamsin, but she had it bad for that man.”

Kenzi lifted her pint. “Here’s to Alexandra and…”

“Elisedd,” Tamsin supplied for her.

“Elisedd,” Kenzi repeated. The other two women lifted their glasses and clinked them to Kenzi’s.

“May their combined wit bring many a headache to Valhalla,” Kayleigh quipped. Tamsin chuckled as she remembered all the times Alexandra’s deadpan humor had her doubled over laughing. The empath downed her drink in one long swig again to Kenzi’s shock and delight.

“Daaaaamn, woman, you got skillz!”

“You should see me do shots,” she smiled. “Now – back to the issue at hand. Does your warrior know and how does your warrior feel about you?” Kayleigh asked point-blank.

“Way to go in for the kill,” Kenzi admired.

“It’s what I do. Well?” the empath prodded.

Tamsin sighed. “She doesn’t know and I have no idea how she feels about me.”

“Uh, ‘scuse me, she cares about you a lot more than you think she does.”

“As a friend.”

“Not as a friend.”

“Ok, enough,” Kayleigh held out her hands to stop them. “Next question: are you going to tell her or wait for her to find out at some most likely inopportune moment?”

Tamsin clenched her jaw. “I am ready to remain Fallen for the rest of my days if it means she has her freedom,” Tamsin ground out.

“Not an answer,” Kayleigh replied firmly. “She could want you for all you know. But at least you have time to find out.”

“That’s what _I_ said!” Kenzi smacked Tamsin’s shoulder.

“Listen to the human. It’s rare that I say things like that, but listen to the human.” Far from being offended, Kenzi snorted her amusement. “If your worry and heartache are anything to go by, you’ve Fallen _hard_ , and I for one am _not_ going to let you live out your life in this pain.”

“What do you mean ‘let me’?” Tamsin retorted with a scowl. “You can’t make me do anything.”

“Jesus, you sound like a petulant child. Get it together, Tam. The human and I are gonna help you through this whether you like it or not.”

“Also what I said,” Kenzi smirked in triumph.

Tamsin buried her face in her hands. “Fine. Meddle in my life. See if I care. It’s not going to do much good, anyway.”

Kayleigh had opened her mouth to reply when she stopped, canting her head to the side. After sensing for a moment, she turned to see who was approaching and her gaze stopped Bo in her tracks. “Hi?” the succubus offered.

“Hey, Bo!” Kenzi greeted with as much cheer as she could fake.

“Who’s your friend?” she asked Tamsin, and Kayleigh had to hide her amusement at the jealousy in her tone.

“Bo, Kayleigh. Kayleigh, Bo,” Tamsin introduced.

“Nice to meet you,” Bo held out her hand.

“You can’t touch an empath without permission,” Kenzi piped up, and Kayleigh nearly burst out laughing.

“It’s fine,” the empath said, reaching out and shaking Bo’s hand. “Nice to meet you, too.” She maintained her grip for a moment with a curious frown before letting go, glancing at Tamsin as she did.

“So, uh, Trick wants our help looking up more stuff on the sídhe.”

Kayleigh frowned again. “What are you researching the sídhe for?”

“Oh, _well_ done, succubus,” Tamsin scolded with dripping sarcasm. “Way to keep a secret.”

“Sorry?” Bo squeaked out guiltily.

“Chill, Tamsin. I don’t care why you’re looking them up; I ask ‘cause I might be able to help you. My girlfriend’s an empath, but her brother’s sídhe – a gancanagh.”

“Bless you,” Bo said, only half-joking. Kayleigh rolled her eyes and Tamsin had to bite back her laughter.

Kenzi wrinkled her nose in confusion. “Wait, so they’re half-siblings? How does that work?”

“Fae genetics aren’t my thing, but we tend to inherit one of our parent’s powers,” Kayleigh replied. “It’s why I’m an empath and not half-and-half. Aislinn’s mom was an empath but her dad was a gancanagh, and so her brother is, too.”

“You’re dating an empath? Way to live on the wild side,” Tamsin teased.

Kayleigh’s responding grin was almost a leer. “It has its perks, believe you me.”

“I’ll just bet.”

“Soooo, can you talk to them for us? Maybe have them meet us here?” Bo interrupted.

The empath nodded. “Sure, no bother. I was planning to head to Aislinn’s after this, anyway, so I’ll ask her then.”

“Thanks!” Bo grinned. “Anyway, you two coming?”

“Right behind you, Bo-Bo,” Kenzi replied, getting up and following the succubus. “Nice meeting you, empath.”

“You, too, human,” Kayleigh called after her. Tamsin had gotten up and was about to follow as well when the empath grabbed her wrist. “Her?” she asked, a disbelieving grin on her face. “Really? _Her_?”

Tamsin wrenched her hand away with a scowl. “Leave it, Kayleigh.”

The empath folded her arms across her chest. “You know…not that it’s any of my business…but the human’s right: she _does_ care for you, and as more than just a friend.”

“I can’t get my hopes up, K.”

“Not yet, T. Not yet.” The empath stood and clapped her friend on the shoulder. “I’ll call you when I talk to Aislinn.”

Once again, Tamsin watched Kayleigh clear a path through the Dal and out the door. Only when she was gone did the Valkyrie head for Trick’s lair with a conflicted sigh, bringing her and Kenzi’s beer with her. With the way things were going, they would need it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Aislinn" is pronounced "ASH-lin." I'm willing to bet that "Ashlyn" is a modernized/Americanized form of the name.
> 
> I'm not telling you what "mo laoch" means. Yet.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More mythology to follow. If it's starting to get to confusing, please let me know and I'll try to tone it down some.

Kenzi bounced down the stairs into Trick’s Lair while Bo and Tamsin followed at a slightly more subdued pace. “Hit us up, Giles,” the human said as she flopped down onto the long couch.

“Huh?” Trick asked, thoroughly confused. Bo and Tamsin were biting their lips to stifle their laughter.

“It’s a pop culture reference,” Kenzi explained, and the statement was so meta that Bo couldn’t contain her giggles any longer. Trick scowled at both of them.

“Sorry,” Bo managed, trying to school her face into neutrality again. Her grandfather shot her one last glare before bringing his books out again.

“Bo, Kenzi, I need you to call Lauren and Dyson and put them on speakerphone. Dyson and Hale are in the Light Archives and Lauren and the Morrigan are in the Dark Archives, so this way we can all have contact with each other and share our findings.” As the two women nodded and started making the calls, Tamsin took the opportunity to slide the book she’d pilfered back onto its shelf. The majority of it had been gross speculation about Valkyries and what little there had been on the bond was everything she already knew. As preferable as it was for the secrets of Valkyries to be unwritten, it was equally frustrating.

 _“Can you hear me?”_ Dyson’s voice came through Kenzi’s phone.

 _“This isn’t a Verizon commercial, wolf-boy,”_ Evony’s sarcasm echoed from Bo’s mobile.

“Told you they’d start arguing the second they answered,” Kenzi smirked at Tamsin, who matched her expression.

Bo rolled her eyes. “Save the feud for later; we have more important things to worry about. Right – who’s focusing on what?”

 _“Most of the information in the Dark Archives outlines the nature of the Tuatha themselves, but not a lot of history,”_ Lauren spoke. Tamsin couldn’t help but note the way Bo tensed at the familiarity with which the human talked about the Dark Archives.

 _“The Light have less on the Tuatha but more on the ancient sídhe. It took us a good long time, but we found some varying accounts of the first tearing of the veil, and I do mean varying,”_ Hale said, both annoyed and impressed.

“Let me guess: everyone wants the credit for the heroic deeds?” Bo asked.

_“Just about.”_

“Right, well, we’ve got the Tuatha family tree here and some more of the history,” the succubus continued.

 _“You know this is unprecedented and insane, don’t you?”_ the Morrigan commented. _“Light and Dark working together?_ Sharing _information? This is how you know we’re_ really _in trouble.”_

 _“Didn’t sídhe both Light and Dark come together to fix the tearing of the veil the first time?”_ Dyson noted.

 _“Sídhe are sídhe,”_ the Morrigan protested.

“And right now, Fae are Fae. So just stop arguing and start reading.”

_“Big words, succubus. You’d better have a book in your lap, too.”_

“I’ve been looking through this spider web of a family tree,” Bo groused.

“If you think _that’s_ a spider web you should see Greek pantheon,” Tamsin told her. “That’s a web even Arachne wouldn’t want to spin.”

“Who and what?”

“Nevermind, baby Fae. Just get back to climbing your tree.”

 _“Hey, I found something on the battle, but it’s not much,”_ Dyson spoke up. _“It says here the ground was stained white and red.”_

“White?” Bo repeated in confusion.

 _“The ancient sídhe and Tuatha bled white,”_ the Morrigan explained. _“Ask the Valkyrie – she’s probably killed a few.”_

Tamsin rolled her eyes, even though she knew Evony couldn’t see it. “You said it yourself – I wasn’t invited to that battle.”

 _“Maybe not_ that _one, but didn’t you say you were at the battle with the Milesians? Whose side did you fight on then?”_

“ _Enough_ ,” Trick warned. “Save your petty squabbles for later.”

 _“Anyone find anything that might identify the Wanderer as sídhe or one of the Tuatha?”_ Hale queried.

“If this family tree is anything to go by, he’s not one of the Tuatha,” Bo replied. “It seems like everyone on this tree is dead except for Mór Ríoghan.”

 _“Yeah, but they’re still in the Otherworld,”_ Evony retorted. _“Tír na nÓg houses a lot of dead warriors, but the rest of the dead go to the Red Palace, ruled by Dunn. There are a lot of theories as to where in the Otherworld it is, but it_ is _in the Otherworld.”_

“So one of the Tuatha could have escaped?”

 _“_ That’s _doubtful, but not all of the Tuatha marked dead are actually dead. Well, only one that I can think of.”_

“Which one?”

_“Dagda, who was Lord of the Tuatha for a long time. It was said he died in his home at Brú na Bóinne, but there’s no actual record of his death.”_

“Help?” Bo pleaded to Trick.

“Brú na Bóinne sort of encompasses all the stone tombs in the Boyne Valley in Ireland, but it’s most commonly used to refer to Newgrange, the most famous of the tombs,” Tamsin answered instead. “Dagda was one of the only Tuatha not to be murdered or killed in battle, so it’s entirely possible that he didn’t actually die.”

“What, being killed was the only way to die in ancient Ireland?” the succubus quipped.

The Valkyrie shrugged. “Ancient everywhere, really.”

“Ok. So. The Wanderer _could_ be one of the Tuatha. _Great_.” Bo slumped back on the couch. “How long have we been at this? I have a headache.”

“Not even a half-hour, Bo-Bo,” Kenzi replied sounding just as weary. “Longest half-hour of my life.”

“No, that’s when you’re hungover,” Bo corrected her.

“True.”

“Have you found anything else on the battle?” Trick cut them off.

 _“Nada,”_ Lauren replied, and the others could almost hear her shoulders slump.

 _“Nothing here, either,”_ Dyson replied. _“What we need is someone who was at that battle or someone who knew someone there. The nature of Irish lore is storytelling, not writing. What Irish Fae history we do have was written down long after the fact.”_

“Well, Tamsin’s friend has a friend who’s a gan-ka-nock or something,” Bo spoke up.

 _“Ugh, gancanaghs,”_ the Morrigan groaned. _“Suck-ups all of them. Not even_ remotely _charming.”_

“Maybe not to another sídhe,” Tamsin theorized.

_“Whatever, Valkyrie just – ”_

A low growl from someone’s end cut her off, rendering everyone deathly silent. “Dyson, _please_ tell me that was you,” Bo all but begged.

 _“Not me,”_ the shifter replied, just as wary.

 _“No, it’s coming from our side,”_ came Lauren’s voice, an octave higher than usual. _“How did they get_ in _?”_

 _“I don’t know, but we’ve got to get_ out _,”_ the Morrigan shot back.

A bark that sounded more like a roar sounded through the phone’s speaker followed by a series of crashes and Lauren yelling for Evony to run. Bo and Tamsin leapt to their feet, Bo grabbing her phone as she did so. “We’re on our way!”

 _“The Archives are always in the compounds! We’ll meet you there!”_ Hale called, and the others could hear the sound of running on their end as well.

 _“You can’t come to the Dark Archives!”_ Evony protested in a shrill voice.

“We’re coming to get you whether you like it or not!” Bo shouted into her phone before racing up the stairs and out the Dal with Tamsin close on her heels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Dagda](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dagda): Pronounced "DAG-da" (nice and simple, for once). Lord of Plenty and leader of the Tuatha for a long time. It was said he died in...  
> [Brú na Bóinne](http://www.worldheritageireland.ie/bru-na-boinne/): Pronouced "BROO na BOYNE." The area of the Boyne Valley in County Meath, Ireland that houses three passage tombs: Knowth, Dowth, and Newgrange. I'm taking a wild guess about Dagda dying in Newgrange specifically, as most people associate that particular tomb with the term Brú na Bóinne.  
>  Dunn/The Red Palace: Dunn was the Tuatha who reigned as Lord of the Dead in his keep The Red Palace. There's no Wikipedia entry that I can find; I'm getting this from the book _Legendary Ireland_.  
> [gancanagh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gancanagh) (as I forgot last chapter): Pronounced "GAN-ka-noch" (soft "ch"/"gh"). A male sídhe known for seducing women. Ancient Irish pipes (the smoking kind, not the musical kind) were called "gancanagh's pipes."
> 
> And for the non-Buffy fans wondering why Kenzi's comment was meta, "It's a pop culture reference" is a direct quote from the show.


	8. Chapter Eight

Thanks to Tamsin’s driving, she and Bo arrived at the Dark compound first, and Bo leapt out of the truck before it could come to a complete stop. Tamsin remembered to put the thing into park before she too hit the ground running. They sprinted up the long drive to find two Dark Fae guards running to meet them. “We’ve been expecting you,” the first man said. Bo grabbed him by the front of the shirt and slammed him into the wall by the elaborate archway he’d just come through.

_“Where are they?!”_ the succubus and Valkyrie demanded.

“Hospital wing,” the guard replied meekly. “Through the door, two rights and then your second left.”

With a smack to the chest but no word of thanks, Bo and Tamsin sprinted into the compound, following the guard’s directions until they reached a wing filled with exam rooms and medical equipment. Hearing voices coming from one of the halls, the two women bolted in that direction and came to a screeching halt in front of the first open door.

“Oh!” Bo exclaimed softly, shoulders slumping in dismay as she took in the sight before her.

Evony was sitting on an exam table as Lauren treated a deep gash along her calf. That wasn’t what bothered the succubus, though. What bothered her was that the Morrigan and the doctor were locked in a passionate kiss, Lauren’s arms around Evony’s waist while the Dark Fae wove her fingers through the human’s hair. They broke apart at Bo and Tamsin’s entrance, Lauren with guilty horror and Evony with smug amusement.

“About time you got here,” the Morrigan snarked. “Some rescuers you are.”

“You’re lucky we came here at all,” Tamsin shot back, but Bo said nothing, still staring at Lauren. After a moment, she turned and left the room without a word, shaking her head in confused shock.

“Bo, wait!” Lauren called, running after her.

The two Dark Fae watched them go before turning to each other. “That kiss wouldn’t have been a purposeful move, would it?” Tamsin inquired, her voice casual but challenging.

Evony smirked. “Believe what you want, Valkyrie. Now go eavesdrop like I know you want to.”

Tamsin wasn’t bothered by the Morrigan’s very correct assumption. While Evony continued to clean up her leg, the blonde backed towards the doorway and listened in on the inevitably awkward conversation taking place.

“Bo, I’m sorry, it’s not – ”

“No, Lauren, it’s ok,” the succubus cut her off. “What we had ended a long time ago. It’s none of my business who you sleep with.”

“It’s not like that, Bo. It’s nothing serious.”

“I saw the way you were looking at her, Lauren.” Bo’s voice was gentle and understanding. “If that’s what you want, then I won’t stand in your way.”

“I’ll always love you. You know that.” The doctor’s words widened the cracks in Tamsin’s already fragile heart.

“And I’ll always love you, Lauren, but not the way I did before. Not the way _we_ did before. You’ll always be special to me, but we can’t hold onto what’s already gone.” Tamsin could almost hear the succubus put her hand on the doctor’s shoulders. “Be happy, Lauren. Don’t let me stand in your way.”

There was silence for a moment before Lauren spoke again. “Thanks, Bo.” Her voice was heavy with unshed tears.

Tamsin and Evony decided they’d heard enough and left the room just in time to see Bo give Lauren one last hug with a kind smile on her face. When the two turned to meet the approaching Dark Fae – Evony walking with a limp – Lauren immediately rushed to the Morrigan’s side. Wrapping her arm around Evony’s waist, the doctor pulled the Fae’s arm over her shoulder so she could take the weight off her injured leg. The Morrigan was surprised by the overt show of affection, but she didn’t question it.

Bo sighed, and in that sigh she let Lauren go.

Dyson and Hale chose that moment to come jogging towards them. When they saw the way Lauren and Evony were standing they both blinked in shock, but neither commented. “Did you see what it was that attacked you?” Dyson asked.

“Not very clearly, but they were some kind of dog,” Lauren replied. “Really, _really_ big dogs.”

“Where’d they go?”

“That’s just it – they _vanished_. They chased us out of the Archives and one of them managed to claw Evony, but then they just stopped. When we turned to look, they were gone.”

“Why would they attack you and then leave like that?” Bo wondered, frowning.

“Another warning, maybe?” Tamsin guessed. “But if they were chasing you, it suggests that you were their targets.”

“But they _vanished_ ,” Evony retorted.

“Which could mean they realized you were the _wrong_ targets,” Tamsin continued.

“Any description you can give us besides ‘big dogs,’ ‘cause we’re kind of standing next to one now,” Bo quipped.

“Hey!” Dyson protested as the others tried not to laugh.

“There was one really weird thing,” Lauren noted. “They were trailing water, like they’d just come out of a lake or something.”

“If you show me where they were then maybe I can track them,” the shifter offered.

“Ohhhh, no,” the Morrigan cut him off. “You aren’t getting anywhere _near_ the Dark Archives.”

“Could you track them from the cut on Evony’s leg?” Tamsin asked.

“Also a big no. I am _not_ having that man sniff my leg; I’m afraid he’ll pee on it.”

Bo, Lauren, and Hale completely lost it, doubled over with laughter. “Really?” Dyson protested, his voice becoming an angry growl.

“Down, boy,” Evony replied, unable to hold back her own grin. “Lighten up, Light Fae. Chances are they’ll be coming back – if not for us, for one of you, so be on your guard.”

“Come on, Evony, you have to rest,” Lauren insisted, trying to guide her to the living quarters.

“I’m _fine_ , human.”

“Right. And I’m not medically qualified enough to tell you that you’re not. Let’s go.” Evony gave an exasperated, exaggerated sigh, but followed nonetheless. Bo took that as her cue to head for the exit, and Dyson jogged after her, calling for the succubus to wait up.

“Ten bucks,” said Hale.

“Not even betting,” replied Tamsin. The two Fae crept just far enough down the hall for a second round of eavesdropping.

“Bo, listen – ”

“Not now, Dyson.”

“Look, I just want you to know I’m here for you.”

“…Ex- _cuse_ me?!”

“If you need to talk or – ”

The sound of a hard slap echoed back to the siren and Valkyrie, and both winced.

“How _dare_ you. _Five minutes_ I’ve known about those two and you’re already trying to get back in. Really Dyson? You’re really going to stoop that low?”

“Bo – ”

“ _No_ , Dyson! What, you figure that now that Lauren’s out of the way you’ll come in and stake your claim? Leave me alone. Just…leave me alone.”

Bo stormed off with such vehemence that Hale and Tamsin heard her shoes clacking on the tile floor. Both Fae took that as their cue to follow, Hale throwing a sympathetic arm around the kicked puppy’s shoulder while Tamsin went after the succubus. The Valkyrie found her leaning against the truck with a defeated look on her face.

“Can we go home?”

“Sure thing, succulette.”

Only when they were halfway back to Tamsin’s place did the significance of her words hit the Valkyrie with a clue-by-four. Bo had called her apartment _home_. Tamsin felt her heart reach out to the succubus but forced the pull aside. Still, when Bo got out of the truck, Tamsin flinched at the force of the pain in her chest.

…

Tamsin woke to the feel of someone running their hand along her arm. “Bo?” she mumbled as she tried to wake.

“Shh,” the succubus whispered, not ceasing her touch. The glide of skin against skin was forbidden heaven, but Tamsin couldn’t let herself feel it.

“Bo, what’s wrong?”

“I…I just…” And then her mouth was on Tamsin’s.

The Valkyrie couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped her as Bo’s lips met hers, soft and warm and sweet. It was everything Tamsin remembered from Brazenwood and more: fire and life and passion, but also overwhelming sadness and desperation. The blonde was drowning in the movements of the kiss, but was jolted back to wakefulness at the feel of Bo’s tongue sweeping along her bottom lip.

“Bo, wait – ” Tamsin pulled back.

“I need you, Tamsin, please…”

Bo tried to kiss her again, but Tamsin put her hands on the succubus’s shoulders and pushed her back. Were it any other night at any other time she would have given herself to Bo without a second thought. But the succubus wasn’t coming to her because of _her_ – she was coming to her because she was hurt. Tamsin knew the feeling all too well: the desire to try and feel something when all you could feel was numbness. The yearning need to feel like _someone_ could bring you joy when you could find none. The Valkyrie had been to that dark place more than once and each time had tried to heal the way Bo was trying now. It only left her feeling worse: hollow and empty and ashamed.

“Bo, this isn’t what you need,” Tamsin murmured. “I know it feels like you do, but you can’t. If you do this, you’ll regret it in the morning.”

“I could never regret you,” the succubus gasped, still fighting to press herself against the Valkyrie. Those words nearly broke Tamsin’s resolve, but she held firm.

“I will always be here for you. You know that. But not like this. Not this way.” Tamsin ran her hands along Bo’s arms in a soothing, calming motion, kissing her forehead. “You’re hurting, Bo. You want this because you’re hurting. I know, I _understand_. But this isn’t the way to fix it. I don’t want you to wake up hating yourself. I can’t let you do that to yourself. I won’t let anybody hurt you, and that means keeping you from hurting yourself, too.”

Tamsin could feel Bo shivering beneath her palms, and she could just barely make out her tears in the darkness. “But you’ll be here for me?” Her voice quivered.

“Whenever you need me.”

“It hurts,” Bo cried, falling into Tamsin’s embrace. The Valkyrie held her tight, rubbing her back as she sobbed. “I’ve let her go and I’ve accepted it but it _hurts_.”

“And it will, for a little while. But you will make peace with this,” Tamsin soothed. “But for now, just let go. It’s ok. I’ve got you.”

Bo broke down in Tamsin’s arms, sobbing her grief and regret and resigned acceptance. The Valkyrie murmured soft comfort as she stroked her hair, rocking her back and forth. In the safety of night and Tamsin, Bo cried herself into exhaustion, the Valkyrie holding her through every tear.

“Thank you.” The succubus sighed raggedly. “For knowing me better than I know myself.”

“Anytime, Bo.”

“You’ll be here when I wake up?” she pleaded in a small voice.

“Always.”

For the third night in a row, Bo slept soundly, wrapped around the Valkyrie. And for the third night, Tamsin lay awake, the words left unsaid dancing circles in her mind.

_Always, mo laoch._

_My warrior._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now you have your translation for "mo laoch." I wrote this chapter to my Blackmore's Night Pandora station before settling on their song "[Castles and Dreams](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMNgxUEEMDA)" for the ending. Definitely give it a listen; it's _gorgeous_.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm borrowing/modifying some of my own work again, so a piece in here may seem familiar.

Bo woke with her arms around Tamsin’s waist and her face tucked into the crook of her neck. The succubus instinctively snuggled closer, and the Valkyrie tightened her embrace, placing a kiss to Bo’s hair. “You’re awake?” the brunette mumbled.

“A little,” Tamsin replied, voice husky with sleep. “How’re you feeling?”

“Better, I guess,” Bo realized. “I…you helped.”

Tamsin was glad that Bo couldn’t see her blush. “Anytime, succulette.”

The silence soon grew too thick, and Tamsin disentangled herself from Bo’s arms so she could roll out of bed. “Tell you what – you take a shower and I’ll go downstairs and make us breakfast.”

“You cook?” Bo asked, surprised. “I’ve only ever seen you eat cereal. And vodka.”

Tamsin chuckled as she left the room. “I’m a woman of many talents, succubabe.”

Bo fell back on the bed as she listened to the Valkyrie’s footsteps descend the stairs. Now that she was alone, she could examine Tamsin’s room a little more closely. It was the only room in her apartment that wasn’t almost completely bare. Instead of a dresser, Tamsin had small cupboards along the wall topped by bookshelves packed haphazardly with tomes of all types. There was no particular order to any of them, but Bo had the feeling that Tamsin could tell her exactly where each title was. The Valkyrie had a nightstand with a lamp on each side of the queen-sized bed and a weapons chest at the end of it, wide and deep and packed with God-knows-how many swords and maces and the like. There was a tall wooden wardrobe in the corner with a halberd propped against it along with a tower shield. Bo chuckled at the sight: only Tamsin could make warfare seem so domestic. Curious, she stood from the bed and tried the handle on the wardrobe to find it locked. She probably could have picked it, but she didn’t want to invade Tamsin’s privacy more than she was already.

She had turned back to look at the bed when out of the corner of her eye Bo noticed that not all of Tamsin’s books were novels: a handful of notebooks were propped up on the lowermost left shelf. Curious, Bo pulled one out and found it to be filled with Tamsin’s handwriting. Most of the writing was a jumble of symbols that Bo could only assume was runic Norse, but the succubus would recognize that lilting scrawl anywhere.

Figuring there was no harm in browsing if she couldn’t understand any of it, Bo looked through another notebook of scribbles only to find that the symbols were now formatted in stanzas. _Poetry?_ Bo wondered, tracing the letters. _Tamsin writes poetry?_ Flipping through further, Bo found a few pages with letters she recognized, though the words still seemed to be in different languages. Tamsin _did_ write poetry, it seemed, including some that Bo now recognized as Irish. Only when she was nearly at the end of the book did she find something in English.

The words were almost impossible to read, many written in the margins as almost all the lines had been unforgivingly struck through. Only two stanzas were really readable, and even they had cross-outs and mark-ups all over them. Bo had to squint, but she could just barely make out what seemed to be the end of the poem:

_I vow to her my sword and shield,_  
 _In her light, I will shine,_  
 _My love, my life, my warrior,  
_ _My Valkyrie is thine._

_I love her with all that I am,_  
 _And loving her has saved me._  
 _I will give her my forever  
_ _If only she will have me._

Something about the words twisted her heart, and looking at the top corner of the page, Bo saw that the poem had been written barely a month ago. She bit her lip as she pondered the words. Who could Tamsin be talking about? Was it that girl Kayleigh she’d seemed so friendly with? It couldn’t have been: Bo had heard them talk about Kayleigh’s girlfriend. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t unrequited love there. Kenzi? No way: the Valkyrie loved the human, to be sure, but as “momz.” There was only one other person Bo could think of, and the thought gave her wild, desperate hope she would never admit.

_She can’t possibly think of me like that,_ Bo sighed to herself, replacing the notebook and going to take a shower.

When Bo was done and dressed, she came downstairs to find that Tamsin had laid out omelets for both of them and was halfway through hers. “Peppers but no cheese, right?” the Valkyrie confirmed.

“You remembered,” Bo grinned in delight, sitting down and digging into her breakfast. “Lemme guess,” she spoke around a mouthful. “Yours is bacon and cheese?”

Tamsin smirked. “Only way to go,” she confirmed. Polishing off her meal at record speed, the Valkyrie hopped down from the stool at the kitchen counter and took her plate to the dishwasher. “I’m gonna take a shower and then Trick wants us down at the Dal _again_. At this rate we’ll be moving in.”

“Tamsin,” Bo stopped her before she reached the stairs. “How many languages do you speak?”

The Valkyrie frowned. “Why do you ask?”

“It’s just…you said you knew a little bit of Irish, and I just wondered what else you knew,” Bo explained, leaving out the part about seeing her notebook.

“Well, by ‘a little’ I actually meant ‘fluently,’” Tamsin admitted. “English, obviously, but I grew up speaking old Norse, so now I’m pretty good with Norwegian. Then there’s Dutch, German, Icelandic, and most of the other Scandinavian dialects. French, of course, but I never really got around to Italian or Spanish. Japanese, Chinese. Oh, and Latin, but nobody really speaks that anymore. There are probably a few others I’m forgetting.” Bo gaped at her, making Tamsin shift uncomfortably. “What?”

“It’s just…I can barely speak _one_!”

Tamsin chuckled. “I could always teach you stuff, succubus. All you have to do is ask.”

“Well, considering the circumstances…could you maybe teach me some Irish?”

Tamsin grinned. “Sure thing, succulette. I’ll have you reading the _Táin_ in no time.” With one last smile that made Bo’s heart stumble in its rhythm, Tamsin began to make her way up the stairs.

“Wait!”

“What _now_?” Tamsin sounded exasperated, but her expression was still amused.

“How do you say ‘thank you’?”

The Valkyrie regarded her for a long moment before replying, _“Go raibh maith agat.”_

“Go rev ma-hagot,” Bo repeated with a nod. “Well, _go raibh maith agat_. For breakfast.”

Tamsin smiled again, and the joy in her expression was almost blinding. “You’re welcome, Bo.”

…

“’Sup, ladies?” Kenzi asked when Tamsin and Bo trooped down the stairs into Trick’s Lair.

“Not much, short-stack,” Tamsin replied, plopping onto the couch next to the human. Trick smiled at the two of them, and Bo smiled back.

_“Dia dhuit, mo sheanathair,”_ The succubus said, stumbling over the words a bit.

Kenzi nearly fell off the couch and Trick blinked in surprise. “ _Dia is Muire dhuit_ , Bo,” he replied, slightly bemused.

“Dude, when did you start speaking Irish?” Kenzi demanded.

Bo blushed. “Um, Tamsin started teaching me a little bit on the drive over.” Kenzi gave Tamsin a look that said “you so have it bad for this girl don’t you dare deny it” and the Valkyrie gave her a shove.

“Well, it’s a complicated language, but you should learn quickly enough. Reading it is much easier than speaking it, so we can go through these books together – ”

Bo groaned. “I was afraid you’d say that.” Trick’s stern look was almost hurt. “But Trick…thank you. I’d love for you to teach me more. _Both_ of you,” she added, looking over at Tamsin.

“Right – feel-good moment time ends now,” Kenzi cut in. “We have to figure out who let the dogs in.” The human snickered at her own joke, but everyone else rolled their eyes.

“More to the point, we have to figure out _what_ kind of dogs they were,” Trick continued. “The fact that they left a trail of water should narrow things down.”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Tamsin spoke up. “I think they might be – ”

She was cut off by the sound of splintering wood upstairs followed by sharp scrabbling along the floor and menacing growls.

“ – here!” the four of them shouted at once before springing into action.

Tamsin drew her sword while Bo pulled her dagger and Trick grabbed his quarterstaff out of the corner. “Kenzi, call Dyson and Hale,” Bo ordered, and the human nodded, fumbling with her phone as the other three rushed upstairs to defend the Dal.

Bo, Tamsin, and Trick stumbled into the main bar and nearly into the invading creatures. They were indeed dogs, but unlike anything the group had ever seen. Their bodies stretched at least six feet long, and the Fae could see the play of muscles rippling under their fur. The creatures’ legs were shorter than an average dog’s, but the joints still bent backwards. Their paws stretched out nearly as long as a human’s foot, and the claws were longer. Bo noted that the creatures’ toes were webbed, which explained the trail of water behind them. The three hounds bared their teeth: thickly curved and sharp as needles.

“What _are_ they?” Bo gasped in a combination of disgust and fear.

“Under-Fae of some sort,” Trick replied.

“So just cast doubt on them,” the succubus shot at Tamsin, not looking away from the creatures.

“Doubt doesn’t work the same way on Under-Fae,” Tamsin replied. “Sometimes it doesn’t work on them at _all_.”

“Oh, great. Good to know,” Bo managed to be sarcastic despite the circumstances.

Apparently deciding the Fae had stalled enough, the three creatures attacked with roaring leaps.

Tamsin managed to slide away from hers even as she brought her sword across its shoulder. The creature howled in pain as white blood spurted from the wound and splashed across the floor. “They’re _sídhe_!” Tamsin shouted. “They’re not just Under-Fae, they’re _ancient_ Under-Fae!”

Bo swore as she dodged a swipe of the creature’s paw, then another. She lashed out with her dagger, but the hound jumped back before surging forward again, fangs bared. Bo brought the pommel of her blade forward and smashed it into the creature’s mouth, breaking and scattering a few teeth. More enraged than in pain, the creature slashed at Bo again and managed to cut four red lines across her shoulder.

Trick, meanwhile, had blocked his hound’s every attack, swinging the quarterstaff in skillful circles. More than once the creature tried to break it, but to no avail. Using the beast’s size against it, the Blood King ducked beneath the creature’s head and swung his staff around the back of its neck. With a jump and a twist of the weapon, the hound’s neck broke with a loud crack and it fell lifeless to the floor.

Tamsin was focusing half on Bo and half on her opponent. If she hadn’t been keeping an eye on the succubus, the creature would be long dead, but the Valkyrie would never forgive herself if anything happened to her warrior. More than once she made a swipe at the hound attacking the succubus in an attempt to provoke it into attacking her instead, but the creature never took the bait. Tamsin failed to block a sweep of the creature’s paw and growled her annoyance at the slice across her bicep. The sound made Bo turn to see what had happened and that was all the opportunity her hound needed to pounce, pinning her down. The succubus pushed the creature away with all her strength, the sound of Tamsin calling her name distant in her ears. The hound was gnashing its teeth trying to get to her head and Bo could feel its hot breath across her skin.

Trick moved to help but before he could attack, the remains of the Dal door banged open. A thick cloud of smoke rolled into the room, encompassing the hounds. The creatures staggered backwards, reeling at the new assault. Tamsin’s hound swayed dazedly on its feet, but Bo’s shook off the effects and lunged for her again. She was ready this time, bringing her dagger up just as the creature brought its head down. Driven to the hilt, the blade pieced upwards through its mouth and brain to break through its skull. The hound twitched once before sliding off the blade. Tamsin brought her sword down through the back of her hound’s neck, severing its spine in one fluid motion. The battle was over as quickly as it had begun.

The smoke began to dissipate and the three Fae looked up to identify its source. A tall man with long, fair hair had his lips pursed as if exhaling from a pipe or a cigarette, only closing his mouth when the grey cloud had completely vanished. Behind him stood Kayleigh and a blonde woman of about the same height. The man looked around at the three bodies and then at the Fae standing over them.

“Wow, Kayleigh was right,” he said with a flick of his hair, his voice carrying the hint of an Irish accent. “You _do_ keep fine company.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More language lessons:  
> "Go raibh maith agat": Pronounced "go rev ma-hagot." "Thank you."  
> "Dia dhuit, mo sheanathair": Pronounced "dee-a hwit, mo shawn-a-har." "Dia dhuit" is the traditional Irish greeting meaning "God to you." "Mo sheanathair" means "my grandfather." This is another case where the word takes an extra letter, so the word for grandfather by itself is "seanathair."  
> "Dia is Muire dhuit": Pronounced "dee-a iss moor-uh hwit." Traditional response to traditional greeting meaning "God and Mary to you."


	10. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OCs enter here. In my story "Feeling All the Feels," Dyson mentions knowing a gancanagh. Now you get to meet him.

Shocked silence covered the Dal as Bo, Tamsin, and Trick stared at the newcomers, who stared right back. Finally, Kayleigh smacked the blonde man upside the head. “Really? _That’s_ how you’re going to introduce yourself?”

“Hey, I just participated in my very first epic battle,” the man protested to the empath. “I think I’m allowed to be a little quippy. Now,” he clapped his hands together, turning back to the others. “Let’s see if I’ve got this right. You’re most certainly Tamsin,” he nodded to the Valkyrie, “the fine warrior over there must be Trick, the proprietor of this establishment,” the man gave him a little bow, “and so you must be Bo,” he finished to the succubus. “So where’s…?”

Kenzi emerged from the stairwell and skidded to a halt next to Bo. Seeing the corpses of the three creatures, she yelped and stumbled backwards. “Holy shit!”

“Ah – you must be Kenzi,” the man bowed. The human looked over at him and blinked.

“Heeelloooooo,” she drew out as she gave the blonde a slow once-over.

“Oh God, don’t encourage him,” Kayleigh groaned.

“And you are?” Bo threatened, stepping forward with her dagger extended.

“Oh! Where _are_ my manners?” The man held a hand to his chest. “I’m Fíonn; the lovely lady to my right is my sister, Aislinn,” he gestured, “and you already know Kayleigh.”

“Not that I don’t appreciate your assistance, but what are you doing here?” Trick asked, though his tone suggested it was more of a demand.

“He’s the gancanagh,” Tamsin explained as she wiped her sword down with a rag.

“‘The gancanagh’?” Fíonn repeated. “Should I be insulted by such dismissiveness?”

“As Evony said, not even remotely charming,” Tamsin continued. Kayleigh and Aislinn gave a snort of laughter.

“You break my heart, fair Valkyrie,” the gancanagh moaned in mock offense.

“E- _nough_ ,” Kayleigh cut him off. “I don’t suppose you have any idea what those are?” she pointed to the creatures still bleeding out on the floor.

“They look like dobhar-chú,” Aislinn murmured, speaking for the first time.

“Of _course_ ,” Trick groaned, rubbing his forehead. “That explains the water and their webbed feet.”

“Someone wanna fill in the human and baby Fae?” Kenzi piped up. Bo elbowed her in the side. “What? You _are_.”

“Dobhar-chú translates to ‘water hound,’” Aislinn answered. “They’re an ancient type of Under-Fae that are sort of half-otter, half-dog. They usually stay close to whatever body of water they call home, so these must have been sent after you.”

Dyson and Hale burst through the broken door of the Dal and Kayleigh and Aislinn stepped aside to let them pass. “You’re a little late to the parade,” Kenzi noted.

“Again,” Bo added with a hint of vitriol.

“Dyson!” Fíonn exclaimed in delight, holding out his arms. The shifter gaped at him in shocked delight.

“Fíonn!” The two men clasped hands and pounded each other’s backs in the typical male fashion.

“You two know each other?” Bo asked, thoroughly confused.

“Fíonn and I spent time in Ireland together back in the 1800s,” Dyson replied, still grinning at the gancanagh. “Boy loves his pipe.”

“Which will _not_ be smoked in here,” Trick cut in.

“Are you sure?” Fíonn asked. “It’s some of the good stuff.”

“Which is precisely why it won’t be smoked in here,” Trick insisted, though he had a knowing smile on his face.

Fíonn held up his hands in acquiescence. “I completely respect that, sir.”

“Um, in case you’ve all forgotten, there are three dobhar-chú corpses on the floor and we’re here to talk about things that are apparently very important,” Kayleigh cut in.

Bo pulled out her phone. “I’ll call Lauren; she’ll want to run tests on these things.” As she waited for the doctor to pick up, she noticed that Kenzi, Tamsin, and Dyson were openly staring at her. “What?” she protested to the two women, ignoring the shifter completely. Tamsin’s smile was filled with pride, and Bo couldn’t help but blush as she smiled shyly in return.

Kenzi, meanwhile, had sauntered over to Dyson for the specific purpose of asking, “How’s the doghouse feel, wolf?” before returning to Bo’s side. Dyson’s nostrils flared with anger, but he didn’t retort.

Sensing the tension and deciding to cut through it, Fíonn clapped his hands again. “Right, before we get started, who’s off-limits?”

“Everyone,” Tamsin growled, taking a protective step closer to Bo. Kenzi and Kayleigh shot each other knowing smirks.

“You weren’t kidding,” Aislinn whispered to her girlfriend as she observed the dynamic between the Valkyrie and the succubus.

“It’s gotten stronger since yesterday,” Kayleigh noticed. “At this rate we’ll be suffocating in it.” Aislinn snorted her amusement and agreement.

“Aw, are you sure?” Fíonn was asking. “The human’s so _cute_!”

Kenzi blushed and giggled, but Hale cleared his throat and took a provocative step towards the gancanagh. Fíonn held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry. Didn’t know those were your toes I was stepping on.”

Tamsin relaxed her stance and looked to see what Bo’s reaction had been. The succubus hadn’t been paying attention, instead examining the gashes on her shoulder. “Shit!” Tamsin exclaimed as she gently brushed her hands along Bo’s arm, cursing herself for not noticing her injury sooner. “Bo, you need to feed.”

“Tamsin, I’m fine.”

The Valkyrie cupped the succubus’s face in her hands. “ _Please_ , Bo. I just…you’re hurt, ok? Just feed.” Bo sighed and pulled her into a kiss.

Tamsin tried not to let herself drown in the sensation of Bo’s lips against hers, but the soft warmth of her mouth was almost too much to bear. She felt a tug from deep within her: a tendril of both pain and pleasure snaking its way through her body to leave her in a stream of blue. Bo drew gently from the Valkyrie until the cuts on her arm had healed. With one last brush of her lips, she pulled away, both of them slightly breathless. “Thanks,” she mumured.

“Always, Bo.”

The succubus smiled her delight at these words, but her smile faded when she saw the marks on Tamsin’s arm. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“It’s fine, Bo. I heal fast.”

Bo gave the Valkyrie a pointed look. “Nice try,” she reprimanded before pulling Tamsin into another kiss. After a moment of blissful tenderness, Tamsin felt soothing warmth and gentle pleasure weave its way into her body before pulsing through her veins. Opening her eyes ever-so-slightly, the Valkyrie saw that Bo was pushing chi _into_ her in a river of orange that left her gasping.

“You can’t just give back what I gave you,” Tamsin protested when they pulled away, still reeling.

Bo gave her a shy, almost nervous smile. “I wanted to.”

“That was hot,” Fíonn commented. It was Aislinn’s turn to smack him.

Ever the generous proprietor, Trick drew a round of pints for everyone as they gathered at the longest table at the Dal. “If I pull you another, will you drink it at a normal speed?” Trick asked Kayleigh when he had finished passing out the first few drinks.

“Sure thing,” she replied, handing him the empty glass. Dyson, Hale, and Bo were gaping at her while Aislinn just shook her head fondly.

Once everyone was seated with a beer in front of them, Fíonn began, “Right, what story do you want to hear first?”

“You’re not even going to ask why?” Kayleigh groused.

“I leave the snooping and gossiping to you ladies,” he replied with a wave at her and his sister. “I prefer to do the storytelling and watch people listen in rapt delight.”

“Can you start by filling the newbies in on gancanaghs?” Kenzi asked.

“Of course! Gancanaghs are the finest of the sídhe. We’re handsome, charming – ”

“ – they’re a type of Fae who feed off chi the way succubi do, but they can only feed off of women and their charms only work on women,” Aislinn cut him off.

“Is that why only one of the dobhar-chú reacted to your smoke?” Bo asked.

“Yes indeed,” Fíonn replied, slightly chagrined at his sister for robbing him of his speech. “If they had both been male, the smoke would’ve done nothing. I was taking a bit of a gamble, there.”

“What happens if a gancanagh is gay?” Kenzi inquired with a mischievous smirk.

Fíonn grinned. “Many an amusing story, all of which I can tell you over drinks later.” Hale cleared his throat again and the gancanagh held up his hands in defense. “Not flirting! Not flirting!”

“We were _hoping_ ,” Trick cut in, “that you could tell us more about a piece of sídhe history. In about 1100 or so, the veil between this world and the Otherworld was torn and thousands of sídhe rallied together to fix the breach. We were just wondering if there was anything specific you could tell us about that battle.”

Fíonn stared at him incredulously. “‘Anything specific’? Good sir, I have almost a hundred stories about that particular debacle, all of which are firsthand accounts from my dear, departed father.”

“Firsthand accounts?” Dyson repeated, eyes wide.

“Yup. Dad fought in those battles. The whole thing lasted for a good few months, and he was there for all of it.”

“Start talking,” Tamsin demanded before adding “please” as an afterthought.

“Happily! Where should I start?”

“The beginning, please,” Trick implored. “We need to know as much as we can.”

“Sure thing!” Fíonn leaned forward on the table, eyes sparkling as he began his tale.

“So. Back in 1100-ish, people start seeing ghosts in the Irish countryside. Not really an unusual thing, because Ireland, but there were an awful lot more than usual. Then people claimed that dobhar-chú were starting to pop up in the nearby lakes, which nobody believed until two kids nearly got eaten for getting too close. People _really_ started paying attention when a Fae village was attacked. When the villagers defended themselves, the assailants bled white. Sídhe hadn’t bled white for a good few centuries at that point, so the obvious conclusion was that they’d gotten through the veil somehow.

“Figuring it would be best to fight sídhe with their own kind, all the sídhe in Ireland gathered together to try to find and close the tear in the veil. Thing is, no one knew how, because nothing like this had ever happened before. So the sídhe back then did what you’re doing now: went to people for stories of the good old days. So much Irish Fae history is kept in its people and not in its books; you just have to find who has the knowledge. Anyway, a lot of the _really_ old Fae started mentioning the Four Treasures of the Tuatha. And before you ask, they’re not important yet, so hold off on your questions,” Fíonn added to Bo, who had indeed opened her mouth to inquire further. “A lot of people thought this was bullshit, because the Four Treasures are supposed to have been a myth. That said, _we’re_ supposed to be myths, too, so it was a pretty lame argument, if you ask me.

“So things inevitably start getting worse. More ghosts and ancient sídhe are wreaking havoc left and right, and three spirits in particular are doing extra points of damage. Only the banshees could see them clearly and some of them managed to get close enough to identify them before being attacked. Before they died, they were able to tell the other sídhe that the three spirits were the last three kings of the Tuatha: MacCuill, MacCecht, and MacGréine. They had been killed in the last battle with the Milesians that ended with all the Tuatha and ancient sídhe being banished to the Otherworld.

“No one was sure how the spirits got out of the Red Palace, since that’s where most of the old sídhe and the Tuatha went when they died. The most popular theory was that a fourth party held a jailbreak ‘cause there were a lot of tales of this shady character who’d stand back and watch the brothers slaughter their way through entire villages. No one ever figured out who he was.” Kayleigh and Aislinn couldn’t help but notice that everyone’s tension and worry spiked with this revelation, but they didn’t comment. “This meant that not only did the other sídhe have to worry about closing the veil, but they had to send the brother-kings back home, too,” Fíonn continued. “The old folk kept insisting that the Four Treasures had a part in the whole thing and someone finally managed to wrangle a little more knowledge out of somebody.

“Whoever they wrangled it out of said that the Four Treasures had been split when the Tuatha had been banished: two in the Otherworld and two in the world of the living. The Treasures already held immense power on their own and apparently keeping them separate from each other caused a sort of pull between them all: two treasures were trying to get out while two were trying to get in. Over time, this started to determine the well-being of the veil. No one knew anything about the two in the Otherworld and only one of them was known in our world: Lia Fáil, The Stone of Destiny, which sat on the hill of Tara. Apparently the Stone was the key to closing the breach in the veil.

“So the battle of battles happened at Tara, three days before Bealtaine. Sídhe of all types fought ancient sídhe of all types in one big mess. Thankfully, they were prepared when the spirits of the three kings showed up and a huge group of banshees keened them back into the Otherworld.” Seeing Bo’s and Kenzi’s confusion, Fíonn elaborated, “Banshees not only predict the death of other Fae but they have the power of keening. It’s like a death song that sends spirits back to wherever they came from. The group succeeded in driving the kings back, but the stress of the keening killed a fair few of them. As for closing the veil, the Lia Fáil _was_ indeed the key, but whatever ceremony they performed destroyed the Stone in the process.”

“If the Stone was destroyed, what’s there now?” Trick asked with a frown.

“A very, _very_ clever copy,” Fíonn replied. “It fools the humans and most of the Fae, but any sídhe who looks at it knows immediately that it’s not real. So the veil was closed, but the destruction of the Stone left a huge problem: now the power of the veil is unbalanced. There are two Treasures in the Otherworld and only one in ours, so the sídhe figured it would only be a matter of time before the veil tore again.”

“Did they ever figure out which Treasures were where?” Kenzi wondered.

“Yeah, they did: Nuada’s Sword and Dagda’s Cauldron are both in the Otherworld, and Lugh’s Spear is hiding somewhere in this world.”

At the mention of the Spear, Kayleigh and Aislinn sent Trick a glance of curious challenge. His pleading expression in response kept them silent.

“You said that there was a shady character who watched the three kings,” Bo began carefully. “Did he have a name? Or a title? Could he have been one of the Tuatha?”

“He was almost definitely another Tuatha,” Fíonn told her. “Only another Tuatha would have the power to break spirits out of the Red Palace. Thing is, not many Tuatha were alive and well outside that Palace. Most were dead by the time of the banishment.”

“Did he have a name?”

“A lot of people called him ‘The Wanderer’ because he was always following the kings.”

Bo’s heart stopped for a moment, then began to beat double-time. Tamsin grasped her hand under the table to both calm and reassure her.

“And your dad was at these battles?” Hale confirmed.

“He was,” Fíonn replied with a proud grin. “Never shut up about it. He actually got a medal for it – all the sídhe did.” He pulled a pendant from beneath his t-shirt and held it up for the others to see: a copper disk with an upraised triple-spiral.

“That’s the spiral of Brú na Bóinne,” Tamsin identified.

“Yup. Well, that’s the place the spiral’s most associated with. Dad said that all the medals were enchanted to locate the other Treasures, but the sídhe who enchanted them said that ‘only one with the proper words’ or whatever could activate them. Dad was one of the few people who believed it to be true and used to encourage me and Aislinn to go looking for the Treasures someday.”

“Which is why my oh-so-intelligent brother here spent a good few centuries traveling every inch of Ireland,” Aislinn added with a sort of affectionate irritation.

“Hey, you _wanted_ to stay home. It’s not _my_ fault the mobile phone hadn’t been invented yet.”

The remains of the door rattled on its hinges and the group turned to see Lauren enter, screeching to a halt when she saw the bodies on the floor. “…Oh.” Her voice was about an octave higher than usual. “Yeah, those were the things that chased us.”

“They’re called dobhar-chú,” Fíonn called over to her before turning to Tamsin. “Is she off-limits?”

“Pretty sure, yeah.”

“Damn.”

Kayleigh and Aislinn, meanwhile, were giving the doctor calculating, suspicious frowns. Lauren didn’t notice until she was halfway through unpacking her medical bag. “Um…do I know you?” she asked timidly. The empaths looked at each other before turning back to the table, leaving Lauren thoroughly disconcerted.

“So what’s this all about, anyway?” Fíonn inquired. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love telling stories and I have a whole lot more about specific skirmishes Dad got caught up in, but is there any particular reason for this?”

“Finally, he grows a brain!” Aislinn exclaimed in mock-delight. “Man wouldn’t know a serious situation if it danced naked in front of him.”

“Not true. If it were in the form of a woman, I would _definitely_ notice. Ow! Abuse!” he protested as Aislinn smacked him again.

“I think I might be able to tell you, if I’ve read everybody right,” Kayleigh smirked.

“Bitch, I thought you said you couldn’t read minds!” Kenzi accused.

“I can’t, but I can read _reactions_ , and you can learn a hell of a lot by how people react to things. So, let me see if I have this right.” She downed the rest of her beer and would have grabbed Aislinn’s had her girlfriend not snatched it away. “You want to know the entire story of the tearing of the veil and you all got especially interested and hopeful when Fíonn started talking about the Treasures being the key to closing it. That suggests to me that something is currently happening with the veil and you need to know how to fix it. When Fíonn mentioned that the veil was likely to tear again, Bo got really relieved. _That_ suggests to me that she blames herself for this tear that I’m guessing exists. And y’all freaked the fuck out when Fíonn mentioned the Wanderer, so that _definitely_ has something to do with all of this. How am I doing so far?”

The collective reaction to Kayleigh’s theory was a sigh of annoyed resignation. “That’s…pretty accurate,” Kenzi admitted, impressed despite herself.

“Yes, there’s a tear in the veil,” Trick sighed. “The Morrigan discovered it when she was chased by scald crows, and Bo had another scald crow at her window.”

“And a few months ago I was captured by the Wanderer and put on a Death Train,” Bo continued. “I escaped by jumping – and yes, I know, I could’ve died,” she responded to the horrified expressions she received. “Apparently that’s what tore the veil further, so that’s how we figured out that the Wanderer was someone from the Otherworld.”

Aislinn, Kayleigh, and Fíonn were silent as they processed this. “So what’re you gonna do?” Fíonn queried as casually as he might ask for another beer.

“Well, now that we know the Treasures are the key to closing the veil, I guess we’ll have to go looking for the one that’s here,” Hale sighed.

“There’s one other thing…”

“Bo,” Tamsin warned.

“ _No_ , Tamsin. I know it’s crazy, but I have to know.” She turned to Fíonn. “Is it possible that the veil has been torn for awhile and that we just haven’t noticed until now?”

“Honestly? I think that’s a lot more likely than it just having shown up. The power imbalance probably caused little rips here and there that no one noticed. What’s that quote about hell breaking loose? Something like, ‘I’m more worried that only part of hell will break loose because it will be harder to detect.’ That’s not that crazy, actually.”

“That’s not the crazy part.” Bo wrung her hands. “I think…I had a dream about my father during my Dawning, and recently I had it again, but he called me ‘mo pháiste.’”

“‘My child,’” Fíonn translated.

“Yeah.” The succubus paused as she contemplated her words. “I know it was just a dream, but I feel like there’s something to it. I think…I think that my father might be one of the Tuatha. I think he might be the Wanderer.”

Fíonn gave her a wary look. “Ok, you might want to elaborate a touch…”

“My mother…she was captured and held in captivity somewhere – for _centuries_. She escaped after she had me, and she wouldn’t tell anyone about my father. All I know is that he was someone dark and powerful and she was afraid of him.” Bo sighed.

“Have you considered asking her about it?” Aislinn asked kindly.

“The last time I saw her she had been tortured to the point of insanity. I think she escaped Taft’s compound, but I haven’t seen her since. I don’t know what happened to her.”

“Lauren knows something,” Kayleigh stated. She stopped tracing the rim of her beer glass and looked over at the doctor. “Sorry, did you want to keep that a secret?”

Bo snapped her head around to stare at Lauren and the guilt in the human’s eyes was all the succubus needed.

“What do you know?” Bo’s quiet imploration was more demand than request.

“Bo, I – ”

“What. Do. You. Know?”

Lauren’s lower lip quivered. “She’s…Aífe’s alive,” she admitted in a whimper. “She’s in the hospital at the Dark compound.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Fíonn](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fionn_mac_Cumhaill): When said slowly it's pronounced "fee-ON," but to speed it's "fyON." Name taken from the legendary Fíonn mac Cumhaill (known to some as "Finn McCool," but if you value your life, _never_ call him that in Ireland). "Fíonn" can also mean "bright" or "fair."  
> [dobhar-chú](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobhar-ch%C3%BA): Pronounced "DUV-ar KOO." Translates to "water hound." An Irish creature that's said to be half-otter/half-dog. In the legend of the dobhar-chú, a woman was dragged into a lake by one of the creatures, which was then killed by her husband. Before the creature died, it whistled for its mate, who then went after the husband. The man fled until he found a friend and then the two lay in wait to ambush and kill the second creature. A headstone at a graveyard in County Leitrim has a carving that depicts the dobhar-chú.  
> [Four Treasures of the Tuatha](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Treasures_of_the_Tuatha_D%C3%A9_Danann): Treasures said to be brought to Ireland by the Tuatha. Only one is important right now and that one is the...  
> [Lia Fáil/Stone of Destiny](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lia_F%C3%A1il): Pronounced "LEE-a FAWL" (might just be "la" or "leh" instead of "LEE-a"). Sits on the Hill of Tara and is said to cry out at the touch of the rightful king of Ireland.  
>  banshee/[keening](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keening): "bean sí" in Irish ("bean" means "woman"). Keening is an Irish funeral practice where the women sing a mourning song for the dead. I've turned it into a spirit-banishing power for that reason.  
> [MacCuill](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Cuill), [MacCecht](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Cecht), and [MacGréine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Gr%C3%A9ine): Pronounced "mak-cull," "mak-cech(k)t," and "mak-GRANE-yuh." Brothers who were the last three kings of the Tuatha (they shared the throne). All were killed in the battle against the Milesians.  
> [triple-spiral](http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancientsites/newgrange/photos/images/triple-spiral-k1.jpg): Symbol associated with Newgrange and Brú na Bóinne, as it appears all over the tombs. Sometimes called a triskelion.
> 
> Cast of OCs:  
> Kayleigh: [Caitlin Stasey](http://img2.timeinc.net/instyle/images/2013/GALLERY/091913-CAITLIN-STASEY-400.jpg) (but with darker, curlier hair)  
> Aislinn: [Tabrett Bethell](http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjI4OTk2MjE5M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDU0NzcyMTE@._V1_SX640_SY720_.jpg) (but slightly younger)  
> Fíonn: [Garrett Hedlund](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tiKUaX11vYg/SvtV8Lv-ikI/AAAAAAAAAFE/Vha1PU32yNA/s1600-h/garrett+hedlund.jpg)


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if Aífe and Bo's reaction to her are a little OOC. I'm not overly familiar with the character. Wrote this chapter to Blackmore's Night's "Castles and Dreams" (again).

Bo wasn’t sure exactly when she moved, but suddenly she’d stood with enough force to knock her chair backwards and had Lauren pinned to the wall. Shouts of disbelief and pleas for her to stop echoed behind her, but Bo heard none of them. “Tell me!” she demanded of the doctor she held captive.  _“Tell me!”_

“She was already at the hospital when I arrived at the Dark compound,” Lauren blurted, hoping that if she told the story fast enough Bo would let her go. “The Fae doctors told me that they’d found her crawling through an alley with a broken leg. They took her to the hospital and offered someone for her to feed from, but she refused to feed. She’s just staying in her room and letting her leg heal on its own. She won’t say who she got into a fight with.”

“It was me,” came Trick’s quiet voice. Still pinning Lauren to the wall with one hand, Bo whirled to face him, eyes blazing blue. “It was when we’d all been cursed to forget you. She’d been trying to find you and we ended up meeting, not knowing the history between us. The spell was broken while we were talking and she came at me with a knife.”

“So you broke her leg and left her to die?!”

“I defended myself,” Trick protested. “I did what I had to to get away. I knew she’d be all right. She’s strong,” he insisted, and the others could tell that it was more to assuage his own guilt than actual belief in his daughter’s ability to survive.

Bo shook her head in disgust. “At least I already expect it from you, Trick,” she spat. “It’s your name, isn’t it? Trick. Always lying and deceiving to save your own hide. But you’re used to throwing Aífe to the wolves at this point, aren’t you? You sold her to the Dark, you used your own blood to determine her fate, and now you went and wounded her again. Your own daughter. Why should I even trust you? After everything you’ve done to her, how do I know that you won’t do the same to me?”

The Blood King almost doubled over at the agony of her words. Every single one was a dagger driven to the hilt within his heart and he could not remove a single blade, for every one was truth. Bo stared him down with a gaze that was almost cruel – icy blue that was slowly beginning to rim with an orange none had seen before – before she turned on Lauren.

“But _you_! I trusted you! I _loved_ you! But you’re just like him, aren’t you? Lying – always _lying_ and _hiding_! Our first night together, then Nadia, and then Taft, and now this! You’re keeping _my own mother_ from me! Were we a lie, too, Lauren? Was it stupid to believe you actually felt anything for me?” Her hands had moved from Lauren’s shoulders to wrap around her throat. _“It’s all any of you have ever done!”_ Bo roared, and her voice held the undertone of darkness that had broken through after her Dawning. _“You’ve only ever lied to me about who I am and what I can do! You’ve hidden every single second of my past from me! You claim you want to protect me, but you do it for **yourselves**!” _ She tightened her grip on Lauren’s throat, and the doctor tried to pry her hands away as she gasped for air. Dyson had sprung forward and grabbed Bo’s arm but the succubus lashed out with her foot straight to his stomach, knocking him backwards with strength she didn’t know she had. She was ready to let Lauren die against the wall except –

“Bo.” The voice was soft. The hands on her shoulders were gentle.

The succubus loosened her grip, the blue of her eyes fading back to brown as she staggered backwards into Tamsin’s arms. She shook so fiercely she might have fallen had the Valkyrie not been holding her up. She looked at the woman she once loved with horror and shame, eyes filling with tears. “Oh God, Lauren…Lauren, I’m so sorry…I’m so…I…”

“It’s all right, Bo,” the doctor replied, her words genuine. “I deserved that,” she continued, rubbing her neck. “I deserved every bit of that. You’re right, Bo: I should’ve told you the minute I found out. I’ll make sure you get to see her. _Today_.”

Bo nodded, still shaking and silently crying in Tamsin’s embrace. “Does she ask about me?” Her voice was small and trembling, filled with the hopes and pleas of a small child. The sound broke the Valkyrie’s heart.

It was Lauren’s turn for tears. “Every day.”

…

Bo gripped Tamsin’s hand like a lifeline as they followed Lauren down the hall of the Dark compound’s hospital wing. All three were silent, each reflecting on the events of the morning. As much as Bo was torturing herself for what she did, Lauren had accepted it, knowing that she probably deserved much worse. Tamsin, meanwhile, was thinking about the darkness she had seen in Bo and how absolutely terrified she’d been that it would take her completely. Their thoughts made for a short walk to Aífe’s room.

“I know that this doesn’t even begin to fix things,” Lauren said as she keyed in the code for the door. “But I’m going to try.”

“It’ll never be fixed,” Bo replied in a hoarse, hollow voice.

“I know. Not completely. But I’m still gonna try.” The light on the door clicked from red to green. “Take as much time as you need. I told the other doctors that you’re to be allowed access here whenever you want.”

“Lauren…” Bo choked as the doctor began to walk away. “Thanks. And…I’m sorry.”

Lauren gave her a little half-smile. “It’s ok, Bo. And there’s nothing to thank me for.” She turned and retreated down the hall.

Bo looked at Tamsin with fearful hope, nervous despite herself. The Valkyrie gave her a reassuring smile, squeezing her hand. Giving her a shaky smile in return, Bo pushed open the door.

Aífe was lying back on a comfortable-looking double bed in the corner of a spacious room. There was a large window in the wall above the bed that let sunlight shine across the covers. Across from the bed sat a desk with a lamp, a cup full of pencils, a scattering of erasers, and two stacks of paper: one blank, one filled with drawings. There was a bookshelf by the desk packed with novels of every age and genre and Bo couldn’t help but notice that there were more than a few books of Irish mythology hiding amongst the fiction.

Aífe had been doodling in a sketchbook lying across her lap but looked up at the sound of the door opening. When she saw who had come to visit, a smile so wonderfully joyous lit her face that Bo couldn’t help but smile back, just as thrilled to see her. “Bo!” the older succubus exclaimed, tossing the sketchbook aside and holding out her arms. She was unable to move further, hindered by the metal and plastic cast that took up almost the entirety of her right leg.

“Mom,” Bo almost sobbed, rushing forward and into her mother’s embrace.

“I’ve missed you so much, baby girl,” Aífe murmured. “They wouldn’t tell me where you were.”

“They didn’t tell me where you were, either. I’m so sorry, Mom; if I’d known, I’d’ve been here sooner.”

Aífe rubbed her daughter’s back. “Shh, it’s all right. You’re here now.” She looked up and tensed, tightening her hold on Bo. “Who’s that?” she demanded. “Who’s this woman?”

Bo looked over to see Tamsin shifting rather uncomfortably by the door, hands in her pockets and shoulders slumped. “Mom, that’s Tamsin. She’s a…good friend,” she finally settled on, not sure what else to go with. Still, Tamsin’s heart did a little backflip as she nodded to Aífe. The older succubus relaxed and went back to focusing on holding her daughter.

“Mom, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry he did this to you,” Bo was crying. “I found out and I wanted to kill him. I almost killed Lauren…”

Far from being disconcerted, Aífe continued to soothe her. “It’s all right, baby girl. He’ll get what’s coming to him. That Lauren girl seems nice, though – always brings me books and paper to sketch with.”

“How…how are you feeling? Why won’t you feed?”

Aífe sighed, and the sound weighed heavily on Bo’s heart. “’Cause it just leaves me feeling hollow, Bo. I don’t want to be hollow anymore. But now you’re here, so I don’t feel quite so hollow.”

Tamsin, meanwhile, had been staring at Aífe’s sketchbook, feeling more uneasy by the second. “Bo,” she whispered. The succubus looked annoyed to have her attention taken away from her mother, but when Tamsin nodded at the sketchbook, her expression changed.

“The triple-spiral…” the succubus murmured. “Mom…do you know what’s happening?”

“I’ve felt it, baby girl,” Aífe shivered, holding Bo tighter again. “He made sure I could always feel it, always know, always know when he might come back to get me.”

“My father?” Bo confirmed timidly.

“Yes, Bo. But he’ll never get to you. I won’t let him get to you.”

“I think he almost did, Mom, but I escaped,” Bo told her. “I won’t let him get me, I promise.”

Once again, Tamsin felt the guilt come crashing down upon her, twisting her heart and filling it with lead until she nearly broke down. If not for her Valkyrie training and sheer willpower, she might’ve.

“Mom…” Bo was saying, unsure of how to proceed. “I think…I need to know who he is. I had a dream that told me who he might be, but I have to know. I’m sorry, Mom, I can’t even imagine how much it hurts – ”

“You’re going to stop him, aren’t you?” her mother cut her off. “Him and the other Tuatha and the ancient sídhe?” Bo nodded, and her mother gave her a proud but vengeful smile. “Oh, I want to be there when you do, baby girl. I want to help you kill him. I want to watch his blood spill.” Bo tried not to shiver but Tamsin couldn’t help but admire Aífe’s gruesome determination.

“So…he really is one of the Tuatha?” Bo had begun to tremble, clinging to her mother.

“He’s one of _the_ Tuatha, Bo. They looked to him and then he followed them. He Wandered through the veil, back and forth until he couldn’t, but there were so many cracks left, so many tears, so many places to pull people through…” Aífe shuddered, and Bo snuggled up to her. Tamsin pulled the desk chair over so Bo could sit down and the younger succubus nodded her thanks. “He was their king, Bo. And then he was their Wanderer. And now he wants you to be his queen. They called him kind, the Lord of Plenty, but all those years made him cruel, so cruel…”

“Dagda,” Tamsin whispered. “Dagda was called the Lord of Plenty.”

Aífe hissed at the Valkyrie, who took an apologetic step back. “He’ll not have you, Bo. I won’t let him.”

“I won’t let him either, Mom,” Bo repeated. “I promise.”

As if that single promise was a trigger, Aífe’s entire demeanor changed. No longer both vengeful and fearful, she’d become a mother again, stroking Bo’s hair and smiling at her. “So tell me how you’ve been, Bo. Tell me what’s been happening in your life!”

They talked about everything and nothing for a good hour. Bo told Aífe about all the crazy adventures she’d had with Kenzi, about how she’d passed her Dawning (leaving out the part where she’d channeled that darkness deep within her in order to save Dyson). To Tamsin’s chagrin, Bo had many an amusing story about the Valkyrie’s recent childhood, all of which had both succubi in fits of laughter. Tamsin’s spirits were lifted somewhat when Bo told her mother that she “maybe” had someone in her life but assured her “no, it’s not Lauren” and reacted to Dyson’s name with “oh, _God_ , no, not him.”

But Aífe couldn’t hide her yawns forever, and Bo gave her an affectionate smile when she failed to suppress the biggest of them. “I’ll let you get some sleep, Mom. But I’ll come back and see you tomorrow, I promise.”

“I look forward to it, baby girl.” She gave her daughter one last hug. “I’ll always love you, Bo. You know that, right?”

“Of course, Mom. I love you, too.” Bo gave her a little wave as she backed towards the door.

Bo and Tamsin had just turned to leave when Aífe’s voice called after them. “You. Tamsin.” The Valkyrie looked back at the older succubus, who beckoned for her to come closer. Squeezing Bo’s hand to assure her that she’d be all right, Tamsin stepped back into the room, standing beside the bed. She and Aífe met each other’s unflinching gazes and held them for a long time, observing and calculating.

“I see the way you look at her when you think no one’s watching,” Aífe told her in a soft voice. “I see what she means to you.” Her expression became imploring. “Take care of my baby girl, will you?”

Tamsin placed her right fist over her heart and bowed at the waist: a Valkyrie sign of respect and promise. “With everything that I am.”

Bo knew that she shouldn’t have been listening, but she couldn’t help wondering what her mother had to say to Tamsin that she couldn’t say in front of her daughter. Aífe’s words made her glad she doubled-back even as she almost wished she hadn’t. _Tamsin couldn’t possibly…could she?_ The Valkyrie’s response made Bo’s heart swell with hope and another emotion she didn’t recognize but filled her with warmth and light. She retreated before Tamsin could catch her, so the Valkyrie found Bo waiting for her a little ways down the hall, leaning against the wall with her arms folded across her chest.

“Can we go home?” the succubus asked, mentally drained.

Tamsin’s heart backflipped again at her casual use of the word “home.” “Of course, Bo.”

…

“I think I’m gonna take a nap,” Bo sighed as she and Tamsin trudged into the Valkyrie’s apartment. “I need time to process all of this.” She stopped when she realized the blonde wasn’t beside her. “Tamsin?” Bo turned around.

Tamsin stood in the middle of her living room, sagging under the crushing burden of guilt she was no longer able to bear. “Bo…” she forced out in a gasp, tears welling in her eyes. “Bo, this is my fault.”

Confused, the succubus turned and walked back to where the Valkyrie stood. “How is this your fault, Tam? You didn’t keep my mother from me.”

“Not your mother, Bo. The Wanderer. The veil. The Death Train. Everything.”

Bo said nothing, only nodding to show that she was listening without judgment. “I was supposed to bring you to him…” Tamsin choked. “But I couldn’t. I…I cared too much. Acacia tried to warn me and I defied her, and she…she was killed because of me, and I knew I had to…” She let out a shuddering sigh. “It was the Rune Glass. I’m not sure, but I think the Rune Glass marked you so he could take you and put you on the Death Train.” Tamsin shook with the effort of containing her sobs, even as a few tears escaped to trail down her cheeks. “Bo, this is my fault, and I’m so, _so_ sorry.”

Tamsin would have struggled to say more, but Bo stepped forward and put her hands on the Valkyrie’s shoulders. “Tamsin…I know,” she murmured. “I figured it out a long time ago.” The succubus reached up and gently wiped a tear from Tamsin’s face. “I forgave you a long time ago, too.”

It wasn’t fair to Bo; Tamsin knew that. The succubus needed time to think about her mother and what she’d learned about her father. But Tamsin couldn’t stay strong any longer, and in the warmth of Bo’s forgiveness, the Valkyrie broke down.

Bo held Tamsin close and rubbed her back as the blonde clung to her, wracked with sobs. The Valkyrie – always so strong, always so steadfast – fell apart in Bo’s arms, finally allowing her emotions to overwhelm her in the safety of the succubus’s embrace. Bo guided them both to the couch, lying back against the cushions with Tamsin draped across her. The Valkyrie instinctively curled around her, crying away her guilt and pain as Bo cradled her in comfort and forgiveness, stroking her hair and whispering soothing sounds in her ear. Safe in the arms of her warrior, Tamsin sobbed herself into exhaustion.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up: I'm delving into Tamsin's past a little more and in doing so making up a _lot_ of things.

It took Bo a moment to realize where she was as she slowly began to wake. But then she felt the gentle weight atop her and the hair tickling her cheek and she remembered: the confession, the tears. The forgiveness.

Bo idly ran her fingers through the blonde strands that had come loose from Tamsin’s usually immaculate bun. The Valkyrie looked both peaceful and vulnerable in her sleep, and the succubus could just barely make out the remnants of tear tracks on her face. Heart aching for the woman in her arms, Bo pressed a kiss to the top of her head, holding her a little closer. Just having Tamsin in her embrace eased the turmoil in her mind. As emotionally hectic as the day had been, something about the blonde soothed Bo into calm acceptance. It wasn’t that she didn’t care – far from it. Tamsin just took the burden away.

The thought made Bo sigh. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the burden Tamsin had been carrying: the weight of unspoken guilt left to tear her apart inside until even the Valkyrie couldn’t stand the agony. The succubus hoped she could take away as much of Tamsin’s pain as the Valkyrie had Bo’s.

Deciding that she wanted to do something nice for Tamsin, Bo carefully slid from beneath the blonde, managing to free herself without disturbing her. Giving the Valkyrie one last fond look, the succubus made her way to the kitchen, figuring that she’d surprise Tamsin with dinner. It was only when she opened the fridge door that she remembered she had no idea how to cook.

Bo took a deep, determined breath as she surveyed her options. _Bacon? No, I’d burn it. There are eggs left, except we had omelets for breakfast. But I could scramble some. How hard could it be?_ The succubus cringed as the doom-ensuring phrase passed through her head before she could stop it.

“Whatcha doin’?”

Bo yelped and spun around, hand over her heart. “Dammit, Tamsin, you _scared_ me!”

“Sorry,” the Valkyrie replied, but her tone and barely-suppressed smile suggested that she wasn’t quite. “So whatcha doin’?”

“Um…well…I thought maybe I could make us some dinner.”

Tamsin gave her a rightfully skeptical look. “Bo, you can’t cook.”

“Yes, I know, I just…wanted to do something, I guess,” she shrugged, embarrassed.

The shy, joyful smile that lit the Valkyrie’s face made Bo’s heart flutter in her chest. “I can teach you that, too, succulette.” She looked over the succubus’s shoulder to see what she had to work with. “If you don’t mind having the same meal twice, omelets are easy enough to make.”

“I thought eggs might be the one thing I couldn’t mess up,” Bo admitted.

Tamsin chuckled. “They’re easy to overcook, but as long as you have the stove on low, you’ll be fine.”

“And you’ve already lost me.”

The Valkyrie full-out giggled this time, and Bo felt her heart do that weird fluttery thing again. “Don’t worry, succubus, I won’t let you set my kitchen on fire.”

The next half-hour was spent in comfortable conversation and light laughter as Tamsin guided Bo in the cooking of two omelets. She showed her how to grease the pan, exactly what temperature the stove should be, exactly how to beat and pour the eggs, and when to add the ingredients. Tamsin showed her two different ways to make them – one for the Valkyrie’s, one for Bo’s – and soon the succubus had succeeded in making two near-perfect omelets. Bo couldn’t stop grinning at her creations as she and Tamsin sat down to eat. She couldn’t stare at Tamsin’s for long, though, ‘cause the Valkyrie inhaled it as she did all food.

“Should I take that as a compliment?” Bo asked as she watched the omelet disappear.

Tamsin nodded. “Tastes _awesome_ ,” she replied around a mouthful of egg-and-cheese goodness. “Next time I’ll show you how to fry the bacon to put in it, too.”

Bo rolled her eyes even as she chuckled. “You and bacon, Tamsin. I’ll never understand it.”

“And I’ll never understand why you _don’t_ love it,” the Valkyrie shot back with a grin. She watched for a moment as Bo continued to eat. _“Go raibh maith agat, mo laoch,”_ she finally murmured with a softer smile.

Bo tilted her head in curiosity. “I understand ‘ _go raibh maith agat_ ,’ but what does ‘ _mo laoch_ ’ mean?”

Tamsin’s smile turned mysterious. “I’ll tell you someday, succulette, I promise. But really…thank you. For everything.”

Touched by her gratitude even as she understood the Valkyrie’s reluctance to talk about the afternoon’s events, Bo reached across the kitchen island and grabbed the blonde’s hand. “Anytime, Tamsin.”

…

Tamsin changed to her usual tee and sweats while Bo chose the still-infuriating black nightie (“Isn’t it about time you washed that thing, succulette?” “Huh? Oh. I have four.”) and crawled into bed for an early night. Bo wrapped herself around Tamsin without preamble and the Valkyrie returned her embrace, stroking the succubus’s hair. There was silence for a bit before Bo asked, “So what was your family like?”

Tamsin huffed a laugh. “If you’re looking for a sweet, happy story to make up for today, you’re not gonna get one.”

“I figured that,” Bo agreed. “I just…it seems like everyone but me knew about my family, and I guess…I just wonder about yours.”

Tamsin had long given up trying to deny Bo whatever she asked, but she didn’t mind. If there was anyone she felt safe enough telling her story, it was the succubus. “Where do you want me to start?”

Bo thought for a moment. “What’s your last name? I don’t think I’ve ever heard your full name.”

“Valkyries’ surnames come from our mothers’ names. My last name is Sigrúnsdatter – literally ‘daughter of Sigrún.’”

“So what was your mother’s last name?”

“Brynsdatter.”

“And her last name?”

Tamsin shifted uncomfortably. “Promise not to tell?” Bo nodded her assent, but it was still a moment before the Valkyrie admitted, “Freyasdatter.”

“ _Freyas_ datter?!” Bo repeated. “Isn’t Freya the goddess of all Valkyries or something?”

“Wow, look at you and your Norse knowledge, succubabe. Yes, she is, and _all_ Valkyries are her descendants. Not everyone is as close as I am, though. Acacia was her fifth-great granddaughter and Kayleigh’s mom was something like her sixteenth-great granddaughter.”

“Kayleigh’s mom was a Valkyrie?” Bo frowned in surprise.

“Mm-hm.”

“So does Kayleigh take her mother’s name?”

“Not quite. Non-Valkyrie children with Valkyrie mothers have the option of taking the name ‘Valkyrsdatter’ or ‘Valkyrsen’ – ‘Valkyrie’s daughter’ or ‘Valkyrie’s son.’ It’s more of a title than a surname, though. Kayleigh could gain a lot of power just by throwing ‘Valkyrsdatter’ around, but it’s not her style. She took her dad’s name instead.”

“So all Valkyries take their mothers’ names and not their fathers’?”

“Most Valkyries have no idea who their father is.” At Bo’s startled expression, Tamsin continued, “Most Valkyries’ fathers were warriors that their mothers decided to spend the night with for fun. The majority of them went and died in battle. Valkyries would have children with different warriors over the course of their lifetimes, and that could be across millennia.”

“What, so they were just furthering the line or something?” Bo quipped.

“And because sex is fun. Valkyries spend so much time around warriors that they’re almost expected to bed a few.”

“So your father…?”

“A Viking soldier. Modir – that’s what we called our mothers; it’s an old Viking word – told me she was drawn to him for his wit as much as his looks and skill with a sword. He died in battle the day she found out she was pregnant. She told him after she’d dropped him off in Valhalla and he was pretty excited. Told her to make sure that boy or girl, Valkyrie or not, I would be strong enough to take down a man his size bare-handed.”

“Can you?” Bo teased.

Tamsin grinned. “Easily.”

“So did your mother raise you on her own? I know you found your weapon in that hall in Valhalla, but did you live there, too?”

“Yup. Modir dropped me off in Valhalla to be trained with the other Valkyries and then went on her merry way.”

“She just left you?” Bo asked, distressed. “She didn’t even come to visit you?”

“She came to visit for a few weeks once a year. We would spend time together and she’d test me on what I’d learned and even teach me a little bit herself. She only missed one year and I learned later it was ‘cause she’d been reborn into her last life. She made up for it by flying me around Valhalla.” Tamsin still remembered that day, even millennia later. Her mother had made sure to hold her daughter safely away from her wings before launching them both in the air and gliding them over the vast fields of Valhalla. Tamsin had laughed in delight the whole time, spreading her arms out as if she could fly, too. They had circled the main hall before venturing farther out, soaring over lush forests and battlefields and warriors’ halls. After they’d landed, Tamsin had begged to do it again every single day. Her mother had laughed and told her maybe. It was the only time they’d gone flying together.

“Then one day she came to Valhalla to stay,” Tamsin continued in a murmur, “but this time as a fallen warrior. I tried to get to her as she walked to the main hall, but Acacia wouldn’t let me. Modir saw me and she put her fist over her heart and bowed: a Valkyrie salute and sign of respect. And then she was in the hall where I wasn’t allowed to go. I drew my sword on Acacia and dueled her for _hours_ , lost in my rage. I fought her until I couldn’t hold my sword up, and then I _still_ tried to fight her. That was my first lesson in channeling anger, Acacia told me as I was lying on the ground. She said Modir would have been proud of how hard I fought and then she just left me to reconcile my grief.” Tamsin sighed. “Valkyries are taught to block most emotions, but I was still a kid, and that was pain unlike I’d ever felt.”

Bo held Tamsin tighter, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, and unlike everyone else who’d ever said it, Tamsin knew she meant it.

After allowing the Valkyrie a moment of contemplative silence, Bo asked, “So, if Valkyries were always having children, did you have any half-siblings?”

“A _lot_ , but none are Valkyries. A lot of times a Valkyrie will leave her non-Valkyrie child with the father or on someone’s doorstep. War just isn’t the sort of life for a kid.”

“How can you tell if a baby’s a Valkyrie if they’re only just born?”

“Valkyries are born with their true faces. We don’t gain the ability to mask it until we’re about a week old.”

“So what happens to the other children? Do they ever find out about their mothers?”

“Sometimes yes, sometimes no. If they’re left with their warrior fathers, the warriors will usually go on and on about their parentage, which is _really_ awkward if the warrior has a wife already.” Both women laughed at this before Tamsin continued, “If the child is just left on a random person’s doorstep, then sometimes he or she will never find out at all. Sometimes Valkyries will leave a note with the child’s name or the Valkyrie’s name should the kid ever want to go looking for her. A lot of people have this misconception that Valkyries give away their kids because they don’t want them – and some do – but most do it to keep them safe.”

“What happens if the children go looking for their mothers?”

“If a Fae finds his or her mother, they can ask to be claimed. More often than not the Valkyrie will happily accept, and that’s how a Fae gains the title Valkyrsdatter or Valkyrsen.”

“Did your mother ever claim any of your siblings?”

“No, but I claimed one as kin in my mother’s stead. Her name was Lily, a fire Fae, and she was the only half-sibling I ever met. My mother had died by the time she came looking for her, but I was able to claim Lily as half-sister, so she got the title Valkyrsdatter.”

“Is she nice?”

“I only met her the once at this little tavern in Iceland. She wanted to know about her mother, so I told her all the stories I could think of. That was really the only purpose for us meeting; she was surprised when I offered to claim her.”

Bo grinned fondly at the Valkyrie. “You offered? That’s sweet, Tamsin.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Tamsin brushed it off, glad that the succubus couldn’t see her blush.

“So Kayleigh’s mom claimed her?”

“Alexandra was married, which was pretty rare among Valkyries.” Tamsin had almost said “bonded” but managed to stop herself just in time. “Kayleigh didn’t have to be claimed; she inherently got the title.”

“Why is it so rare – oh, wait, the no emotions thing, right?” Bo realized.

“Yeah, something like that,” Tamsin eluded. The conversation was straying far too close to her own feelings for her liking. To her relief, the succubus didn’t press further, instead thinking in silence about all she’d just learned.

“So do you have any kids running around out there?” Bo finally asked, her voice surprisingly timid.

Tamsin smiled. “Not a one, succubus.”

Bo sighed in relief. She wasn’t sure why it made her so happy, but hearing that Tamsin had never had children relaxed her somehow.

Tamsin, for her part, wasn’t sure why Bo seemed so relieved that she hadn’t had children, but the fact that she was made the Valkyrie’s heart a little lighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to [this](http://www.vikingsofbjornstad.com/Old_Norse_Dictionary_E2N.shtm), the Viking word for "mother" is "móðir," which I changed to "modir" for pronunciation and typing purposes. I chose omelets because they are one of the only things I can cook without screwing up.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In looking up the lyrics to a favorite song I discovered that I'd been pronouncing "mo laoch" incorrectly this whole time. That said, I don't think I ever posted the pronunciation: it's "moe laych(k)." I wrote this chapter to that same song: "[Mo Ghile Mear](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ROt6lFTOao)," by Orla Fallon. Have a listen; it's awesome and all in Irish.

Bo was once again the first to wake, this time to the feel of sunlight shining through the window. She was still in Tamsin’s warm arms, held snugly against the Valkyrie’s body in a way that made her feel utterly cherished. It scared Bo as much as it thrilled her, this feeling of utter safety and comfort she’d never felt and thus couldn’t name. Suddenly uncomfortable in her unsurety, Bo slipped from Tamsin’s arms with a sigh, stretching as she swung her legs over the bed.

Her eyes were once again drawn to the notebooks on Tamsin’s bookshelf. Glancing over at the Valkyrie to make sure she was still asleep, Bo walked over to the shelf and took out a notebook she hadn’t perused yet and flipped open the cover. The first few pages were again in runic Norse before switching to gibberish that looked like someone had doodled over various letters of the alphabet. This script continued through a fair part of the notebook, and Bo couldn’t help but wonder what language it was that Tamsin was so fond of.

“That’s in Icelandic,” the Valkyrie answered from over her shoulder, causing the succubus to shriek and nearly drop the book.

“Don’t _do_ that!” Bo protested.

Tamsin was unrepentant. “ _This_ is why you wanted to know how many languages I spoke, isn’t it?” she smirked.

Bo blushed. “I…I was curious…and I figured since I couldn’t read it anyway…”

The Valkyrie burst out laughing. “It’s fine, Bo. None of these notebooks have a lot of English in them, so I’m not worried you’ll judge my poetry.”

The succubus let out a laugh of relief. “The only thing I found in English was so crossed out I could barely read it,” she admitted.

Tamsin felt a flash of panic. She could only think of one English poem that was marked up all to hell, and if Bo had read that one… The Valkyrie cleared her throat. “Um, so, yeah, I write in Icelandic and Norwegian a lot because they’re both derived from Old Norse. I still remember Old Norse and the runic alphabet; I just don’t really use it anymore.”

“So what’s this poem about?” Bo asked, holding up the notebook.

The Valkyrie scanned the page. “That one’s about the northern lights,” she replied. “Not one of my best, but it was just sort of a reaction piece to what I was seeing.”

“Wait, you wrote this while watching the northern lights? In Iceland?”

“Uh-huh,” the Valkyrie smiled. “Pictures don’t really do them justice.”

“I’d love to see them,” Bo sighed.

Tamsin’s smile softened into fondness. “Someday I’ll take you there, succubus,” she promised, and the grin she received in return was more beautiful to her than any aurora could ever be. “Now come on – you shower, I’ll make breakfast. I hope you like crepes.”

“You’re spoiling me,” Bo giggled.

“I’m eating them too, remember. I’m spoiling both of us.” She winked at the succubus before leaving the room and heading downstairs. Bo stared after her for a moment before putting the notebook back on the shelf and taking out the one with the English poem she’d found. She flipped back and forth to see if she could find more than those last two stanzas, but it looked like a few pages had been torn out. With a sigh of defeat, Bo returned the book to its place on the shelf before going to the bathroom to take a shower.

When the succubus entered the kitchen, there was a stack of crepes waiting for her and Tamsin was frowning at her phone. “What’s wrong?”

“Trick wants us at the Dal again today,” the Valkyrie murmured. “Said something about Lauren having the results of her test.”

“Yeah, well, Trick can shove it,” Bo spat, loading her plate with crepes and grabbing the strawberry jam.

“Bo, he’s your grandfather,” Tamsin admonished, though gently.

“Yeah, and such a wonderfully loving grandfather he’s been.” The succubus’s voice was saturated with sarcasm.

“He’s still your family.”

“Well he doesn’t act like it!” Bo shouted, then winced. “I’m sorry, Tamsin, I shouldn’t be shouting at you. I’m just…I’m just so _angry_ with him…”

Tamsin sighed and made her way over to where Bo stood by the counter. Placing her hands on the succubus’s shoulders, she began, “He may be pissing you off right now, but we all make stupid mistakes. I did terrible, _terrible_ things, but you still forgave me. I think you can find it in your heart to forgive him, too.” She sighed. “Bo, I spent almost all of my lives alone. After my mother died, I never had a family until now – until you and Kenzi and hell, even Trick and Kayleigh and Dyson when he’s not being an asshole. You’re all my family and you mean _everything_ to me. You should never give up on your family.”

Bo smiled as she mirrored Tamsin’s gesture, putting her hands on the Valkyrie’s shoulders. “Family doesn’t have to be determined by blood, Tamsin. The family you have now? You’re not related to any of them. Well, maybe very, _very_ distantly to Kayleigh, but not the rest of us. I may have gotten my mother back and Trick may be my grandfather, but they’re not the only family I have. You and Kenzi are the most important people in my life, and you mean everything to me, too. If I had to live my life without Trick in it, I could. But I could never live without you and Kenzi.”

Hearing Bo say that she was one of the most important people in her life and couldn’t live without her made Tamsin’s heart pound double-time in her chest as her very being sang with joy. She brought her hands from the succubus’s shoulders to wrap around her waist instead, pulling her into a tight embrace. Bo threw her arms around Tamsin’s neck and buried her face into the Valkyrie’s shoulder, inhaling her scent – lavender and spice and something solely Tamsin. They stood in comfortable silence for a long time, far longer than “just friends” would. But they had crossed that line long ago, though neither was sure into where. For now, what they had between them didn’t need a name. It just was.

The moment was cut short by the buzzing of Tamsin’s phone. Looking over Bo’s shoulder and seeing who the caller was, the Valkyrie rolled her eyes and pulled away from the succubus, turning on the speakerphone. “What do you want, short-stack?”

_“Dude, you’ve gotta come to the Dal. We’re gettin’ all Xena up in this shit.”_

“English, please,” Bo requested.

 _“The doctors Feelgood brought weapons,”_ the human replied. The two Fae could hear Kayleigh’s distinct “Oi!” of nickname protest in the background. _“Figured with the sídhe on their way it might be good to start training up. Kayleigh’s got Lauren on a crossbow and Aislinn’s teaching me how to use a short bow. Woman’s like Legolas on crack.”_ This time Bo and Tamsin heard what sounded like “should I take that as a compliment?” followed by Lauren’s “in Kenzi-speak, yes.”

“Give us about an hour, ok?” Bo replied. “We haven’t finished breakfast.”

_“It’s gonna take you an hour to finish breakfast? With the way Tamsin eats?”_

Bo chuckled. “No, it’s just…I promised my mom I would visit her for a little bit today.”

 _“Oh. Cool.”_ Kenzi’s tone had become very awkward very quickly. _“See you when you get here, then.”_

 _“Maybe she can hit the target by then!”_ Kayleigh called out. The last thing Bo and Tamsin heard before Kenzi hung up was a string of Russian curses.

Both women sighed. “Well…guess we have to get going now,” was Bo’s reluctant assertion. In the time it had taken her to say this, Tamsin had eaten her stack of crepes. “Seriously?!”

“Habit. You eat as slowly as you want; I’m going to take a shower.” Not sure where the impulse came from but succumbing nonetheless, Tamsin pressed a kiss to Bo’s cheek before going upstairs.

The succubus stood frozen for a few stunned moments, the echo of the Valkyrie’s lips burning on her skin. Memories of past kisses rushed through her mind as a river might break down a dam: searching for Kenzi, Brazenwood, and so recently in Tamsin’s bed when the Valkyrie had seen right through her and still held her tight. Bo shook herself back to reality and focused on the much simpler task of eating her crepes, even as she could still feel Tamsin’s kiss on her cheek.

…

Bo visited her mother long enough to say hello and admire some of her new drawings. Aífe had drawn a picture of Bo and Tamsin standing together that she insisted Bo keep. The succubus absolutely adored it, but was less enthusiastic about the picture of her spattered with blood as she stood over a corpse she could only assume was meant to be her father. Tamsin rather liked it.

When Bo and Tamsin arrived at the Dal, they heard voices and laughter coming from the alley behind the bar. Following the sound, they found Lauren sitting and watching Aislinn try to teach Kenzi how to shoot a bow. The human was managing to hit the makeshift target they’d set up, but her arrows were all over the place. “You don’t just let go of the string,” Aislinn was saying. “You have to let it slide from your fingers. And you have to keep the bow steady even after you fire the arrow.”

“So many ruuuuules!” Kenzi whined.

“It’s not that difficult once you get the hang of it,” the blonde empath insisted.

“Not true,” Kayleigh spoke up. “I’ve been trying for over a hundred years and I _still_ can’t get it.” Aislinn scowled at her girlfriend who only grinned in response.

“How’s the training going?” Bo inquired. At the succubus’s voice, Lauren looked up and waved at her and Tamsin.

“Well enough,” Kayleigh shrugged. She had a sword on one hip and a parrying dagger on the other. Seeing Bo squint at the craftsmanship, the empath arched an eyebrow. “Um, can I help you?”

“Tamsin, I thought you said Valkyries only got _one_ weapon out of the hall,” the succubus almost whined as she turned to the blonde.

Tamsin shook her head. “The choosing of the weapons determines your fighting style more than anything. Some Valkyries fight sword and dagger, so they’re called by one of each.”

“You’ve been telling Bo Valkyrie stories?” Kayleigh stared at Tamsin. “Wow, if I didn’t know better I’d say you were going soft in your old age.”

“I can still doubt you into oblivion, bitch.”

“ _There’s_ the Tamsin I know,” the empath chuckled as Bo rolled her eyes.

Turning to Lauren, the succubus asked, “No Evony?”

The doctor shrugged from where she was sitting on a crate. “She said and I quote, ‘I have better things to do than watch the Happy Sunshine Gang mess around with pointy objects. But call me if the succubus gets shot; that I want to see.’”

Unoffended, Bo just laughed and shook her head. “What about Hale and Dyson?”

“Stuck doing actual police work,” the doctor replied. “Apparently their boss had issues with them dropping everything and running to the rescue yesterday.”

There was a thunk as Kenzi’s next arrow hit the target at an odd angle. “How did you even _do_ that?” Aislinn tilted her head as she examined the shot.

“Can’t I try the crossbow again?”

 _“No,”_ Lauren, Kayleigh, and Aislinn all said at once with vehement voices and wide eyes. “You almost took Kayleigh’s head off with that first shot,” Aislinn continued. “I am _not_ letting you near one of those things again. _Ever_.”

“Jeez, fine,” Kenzi grumbled as she loaded another arrow. She had drawn back the string when she heard the others gasp beside her. Looking up at the target, the human saw that a scald crow had perched atop it and was watching her with a beady black gaze. Kenzi gave a yelp of fright and loosed the arrow without aiming…straight into the crow.

“Oh, of _all_ the shots you had to make…” Kayleigh whimpered.

But instead of falling over dead, the scald crow just blinked at all of them before looking down at the arrow, cocking its head in examination. The women gaped as the crow took the shaft between its beak and, bit by bit, pulled the arrow from its body. Letting out a long, grating caw around the projectile in its mouth, the scald crow took off over their heads, dropping the arrow at Kenzi’s feet.

All were silent as they tried to process what they’d just seen. Kenzi broke first. “I’m done,” she gave up, dropping the bow and holding up her hands. “I’m done, I’m done, I’m done, I’m _so done_.” She slumped against the crate Lauren was sitting on. “Is it too early to drink?”

“Yes,” Bo and Kayleigh responded just as Aislinn and Tamsin went, “No.” When Kayleigh gave her girlfriend an incredulous look, the empath shrugged and smirked. “I’m Irish. We have Guinness for breakfast.”

“Another warning?” Bo asked Tamsin.

“Yes,” the Valkyrie drew out, “but I don’t think it’s the type of warning I first thought it was.”

“ _Please_ elaborate,” Lauren all but begged.

“When Bo and I first saw the scald crow at her window I thought it was warning us against it – against Mór Ríoghan. But after what just happened, I think it’s actually a warning against someone or something else. I think the scald crows might actually be on our side, so to speak.”

“They chased Evony down the street!” Lauren protested.

“Maybe, but they didn’t hurt her. I think they might just have been trying to get her attention so she could get our attention.”

“Well, they have _my_ attention,” Kenzi groaned. “That was the trippiest shit ever to trip shit.”

“English major you are not,” Aislinn noted. Kenzi just waved a dismissive hand at her.

Before any of them could theorize further, crashes and shouts came from the front of the Dal along with a series of growls the women recognized as belonging to Under-Fae. “Well, now we know what the warning was for,” Kayleigh sighed, drawing her sword and dagger. Those with weapons followed suit: Aislinn loaded an arrow in her bow, Tamsin drew her sword, and Bo grabbed her dagger as the group ran around the side of the building to face the attack.

Six Under-Fae, all armed with swords, held formation to attack, but unlike most Under-Fae, they stood tall instead of hunched and intelligence gleamed in their sickly green eyes. Trick and Fíonn were backing away from them, Trick with his quarterstaff at the ready. The leader of the group growled something in what sounded like Irish, but more primitive.

“‘Give us the succubus,’” Fíonn translated, being very careful not to look at Bo so as not to give her away.

“I _told_ you you should have brought your knives,” Aislinn hissed at him, never taking her eyes off the creatures they now knew were Under-sídhe.

“I didn’t think I was gonna have to fight anything!” her brother protested. The leader repeated his earlier demand along with a new phrase. “Same thing, except he added ‘or die,’” Fíonn interpreted again.

Tamsin tapped the blade of her sword against the ground twice and responded in what was obviously an insulting challenge. All those who understood Irish gave the Valkyrie a withering look before bracing themselves against the onslaught.

Kayleigh met the Under-sídhe first, bringing up her dagger to parry a downward strike before swinging her sword across the creature’s stomach. A line of white blood appeared across its midsection but the ancient sídhe was tough enough to withstand much of the blade’s force. Swearing in irritated dismay, Kayleigh crossed her blades at the hilt of her attacker’s sword and went for a disarm. The sídhe anticipated her move, tilting and sliding its blade from her hold and forcing her to duck as it brought its sword back around.

Trick was handling two sídhe at once with surprising dexterity. As much as his quarterstaff looked like wood, it deflected the swords with a clang of metal as he swung and blocked left and right. The two creatures tried to flank him, but he changed his fighting style and went for jabs instead of sweeps. The Blood King knocked one of them prone, the creature’s head cracking against the pavement. A stomp of Trick’s foot against its temple swung its head to the side with a crack that was almost a crunch. The sídhe’s sword clattered to the ground, falling from its lifeless hand. Trick ducked the swipe of the second creature’s sword before bringing his quarterstaff up for a parry, reverting to swinging strikes now that he fought one-on-one.

Aislinn, meanwhile, had her bow drawn and ready and was waiting for an opportunity to loose the arrow. “ _Shoot_ them!” Kenzi begged.

“I can’t!” Aislinn replied, just as frustrated. “The fighting’s too close! I could hit _anyone_!”

Sensing her irritation even from a distance, Kayleigh turned her blades so the flats faced out, shoving her opponent instead of slicing it. The ancient sídhe had barely staggered two steps from the melee when an arrow pierced its throat with a squelching thud. The creature clutched at the spurting wound as it fell, dead before it hit the ground. Kayleigh gave her girlfriend a grim nod of thanks before turning to see who she could help.

“Why do I _always_ get the leader?” Bo ground out as she did her best to parry the ancient sídhe’s attacks. She did a lot more ducking than parrying, though she did manage to get a few slices across its abdomen. But though the cuts oozed white, they weren’t nearly enough to do sufficient damage. The leader made a wide sweep with its blade and Bo instinctively leaned back to avoid it, but she leaned too far. The succubus hit the ground with a cry of surprise and pain as the ancient sídhe brought its sword back point-down for the killing blow. Bo had her dagger ready, hoped she could block it or roll out of the way…

And then Tamsin was there. The Valkyrie reacted without thought and with singular purpose: protect her warrior.

Tamsin covered Bo’s body with hers and the leader’s sword rebounded against her wings with the ring of steel on steel. Spinning left, Tamsin’s feathers made a slice across the creature’s chest that almost cut it in half. She brought her sword around in the same swing, severing the sídhe’s head from its shoulders in a shower of white. Kayleigh drove her blade through the last sídhe’s neck a moment later and the final assailant dropped. Battle over, all eyes turned to Tamsin.

Kenzi and Kayleigh were gazing at the blonde with sad sympathy, understanding the gravity of what she’d just revealed. Fíonn, Aislinn, Trick, and Lauren were staring at her in fearful shock, intimidated by her face and wings. The siblings and doctor weren’t aware of the significance, but Trick began, “But…that means…” Tamsin shot him a warning look, all the more effective with her true face. Dreading one reaction the most, Tamsin turned to help Bo from the ground, fearing what she’d see.

But to Tamsin’s surprise, there was no pity in Bo’s gaze. There was only sadness and worry and distress as she gaped at the Valkyrie. Tamsin held out her hand and the succubus took it, letting the blonde help her to her feet. As Bo had the day Tamsin first unfurled her wings, Bo met her eyes without falter, finding this face just as beautiful. “Oh, Tamsin,” she gasped, reaching out. “Your _wings_ …”

Tamsin took a step back, retracting her wings and letting the darkness fade from her face. “It’s nothing. I just…I need to go home. I’ll see you back there, ok?” Without waiting for Bo’s response, she turned and jogged to her truck, sword still in hand.

Bo watched her go in dismay, wondering what she’d done wrong and what she could do to fix it. She was about to go after Tamsin when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to meet Kayleigh’s understanding but imploring gaze. “I know you want to help her, but you’ll have all the time in the world later. Right now we have to deal with this.” She canted her head towards the dead Under-sídhe scattered along the pavement.

“Right…” Bo took a deep breath. “Right. You’re right. But… _how_ do we deal with this?”

“Burn the bodies, for one,” Trick responded. “We should drag them to the back first, though.”

“I can help with that,” Kayleigh offered. “I’m not averse to dead things.”

“At least let me retrieve my arrow first,” Aislinn requested.

“How is it they keep coming _here_ , though?” Bo wondered as she gazed at the dead Under-Fae. “How do they know we’re _here_?”

“I have a theory,” Fíonn offered, raising his hand.

“That it’s a demon?” Aislinn muttered just loud enough for her girlfriend to hear. Kayleigh had to bite her lip to keep from bursting into laughter.

“Let’s hear it,” the succubus prompted.

“Well…I think it’s the name of the place.”

There was incredulous silence for a moment before Kayleigh went _“Seriously?”_

“Think about it for a second,” Fíonn continued. “Trick, why did you name this place Dal Riata?”

“It’s named after an ancient Irish kingdom,” the Blood King responded.

“Exactly.”

Realizing what the gancanagh was getting at, Trick sighed. “Oh, dear.”

“Still not getting it,” Bo protested.

“Ancient sídhe are going to be drawn to places they recognize – in theory, anyway,” Aislinn elaborated. “They may walk and talk, but Under-Fae still aren’t very smart, even if they are ancient sídhe. If they see a place named Dal Riata then they’re immediately going to associate it with their old home: their home before they were banished to the Otherworld.”

“So where are we moving our base of operations?” Fíonn asked almost happily.

“This is not a game of capture the flag, you eejit,” Aislinn retorted.

“There’s a gym near Dyson’s place that he uses to train,” Lauren answered him. “We can do our training _and_ research there. It’ll be a little harder for the Under-Fae to get to, and if they _do_ get to us then we know we’re wrong about the Dal.”

“Please let’s be right,” Kayleigh prayed to no one in particular. “Now, who’s helping me move these bodies?”

“Can I take samples first?”

…

Tamsin was sitting on her bed and staring at nothing when Bo entered the room. The succubus slid into the bed behind the Valkyrie, embracing her back-to-front. Tamsin sighed at the gentle touch, but otherwise said nothing. Bo rested her chin on the Valkyrie’s shoulder, running her hands along her arms. “Will you show me?” she whispered.

With a shuddering breath, Tamsin knelt forward and away from Bo’s arms. Taking off her shirt and unclasping her bra (actions that made both women’s breaths quicken), the Valkyrie let her face darken and unfurled her wings.

It was Bo’s turn to sigh, this time in sadness as she ran her hands along the rough feathers of Tamsin’s wings. “Does it hurt?”

Tamsin bit her lip to stifle a sob as she felt Bo’s fingers comb through her feathers. The succubus had no idea what it meant for her to be able to touch them and Tamsin wasn’t sure she’d ever have the strength to tell her. When Bo ran her hands along the tops of Tamsin’s wings, gently caressing the strong limbs, the Valkyrie couldn’t hold back her tears.

Bo began to massage the tense muscles between Tamsin’s shoulder blades before moving her touch along the base of the Valkyrie’s left wing. She continued her tender massage along the wing itself, every so often running her fingers through the ink and coal expanse of her feathers. “It works both ways, you know,” she murmured. “You said you’ll always be there for me. I’ll always be there for you, too, Tamsin. Whenever you need me.”

The words hurt as much as they healed, and the Valkyrie could only sit and cry, her body shaking with silent sobs. Bo said nothing – only continued to show Tamsin how much she was cared for. How much Bo cared for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dal Riata/Dál Riada: According to my go-to book _Legendary Ireland_ , Dál Riada was a forest kingdom in Irish lore. When I discovered this I just had to use it in the story.
> 
> All knowledge of archery comes from my own amateur archery skills. "Eejit" is a way of saying "idiot" in Ireland.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now the part you've all been waiting for. I wrote this chapter to Heather Nova's ["Only Love."](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riGlhkoZzOU) If you can multitask, have a listen while you read the chapter; it really sets the mood and tone.

“Bo?” Tamsin’s voice called out hoarse and needy in the darkness.

The succubus was instantly awake. “What’s wrong?”

“I need you,” the Valkyrie pleaded in a desperate gasp.

Bo wrapped her arms around Tamsin, holding her close. The blonde shuddered in her embrace, clutching at the black silk of Bo’s nightie while burying her head in the brunette’s shoulder. Bo traced calming circles on Tamsin’s back and ran tender fingers through her hair, pressing the occasional soft kiss to her forehead. “I’ve got you,” Bo soothed. “I’ve always got you.”

As Tamsin’s shivers slowly began to subside under the succubus’s ministrations, she realized exactly what position she was in. She was still clinging to Bo’s nightie, pulling it so far down that her breasts were in danger of coming free. The blonde had her face buried in the crook of Bo’s neck and one leg slung over the brunette’s thigh. Tamsin was hyperaware of every burning place they touched, the slightest of movements kindling the flames of desire beginning to ignite within her. She looked up at Bo in panic, afraid of what the succubus’s reaction would be, but Bo looked back at her with gentle surety, placing another kiss to Tamsin’s forehead. The kiss turned into a series of smaller ones down Tamsin’s cheek and along her jaw and ended with a gentle brush of Bo’s lips against hers.

Tamsin arched into the kiss with fervent need, letting out a whimper as Bo matched her ferocity. Mouths moved in tender synchronicity as the two women molded seamlessly to each other’s embrace, pressing the full length of their bodies together. But once again, Bo’s tongue along Tamsin’s lips made the Valkyrie pause. “Bo, wait,” she protested with effort, barely breaking the kiss. It was hypocrisy of the worst kind. Hadn’t Tamsin denied Bo just days ago for the very same reason – because she was hurting and in need of comfort? How selfish would Tamsin be to accept this now?

“Shh,” Bo soothed again, stroking Tamsin’s cheek. “I want to. I promise you, I want to.” The succubus knew exactly what the Valkyrie was thinking – exactly why she was resisting. But this was different from before. This time Bo was offering to take Tamsin’s pain away – not out of pity, but from a deep longing of her own. “I could never regret you,” Bo repeated, smiling at the woman in her arms. And this time, Tamsin broke.

The Valkyrie crashed her lips to Bo’s again and moaned as their tongues met and delved and danced. She released the succubus’s nightie to wrap her arms around her neck instead, tangling her fingers in thick brown hair. Bo’s lips tasted like heaven against Tamsin’s and the blonde drank in the sweetness of their tongues together as if she’d never have another chance. The passing thought made Tamsin cling even more tightly to the succubus, who responded by slipping her hands beneath the hem of Tamsin’s t-shirt to alight on bare skin.

Tamsin shivered again, this time from arousal as Bo drew random patterns on her skin, leaving trails of heat and lust in her wake. Tamsin began to tug at Bo’s nightie in an attempt to find bare skin herself but Bo gently shushed her, rolling atop the blonde. “Let me,” she murmured. “Let me take care of you.” Tamsin – who had never once surrendered, never once let someone else take the lead, never once in her many lifetimes let someone lie atop her – nodded her assent, lifting her arms above her head in a sign of complete submission. Bo kissed her deeply in both understanding and reassurance as she dragged the fabric of Tamsin’s shirt up her body and over her arms before tossing it somewhere into the darkness of the room.

Bo placed one last kiss to Tamsin’s lips before kissing her way along her jaw and down her neck, licking and nipping at the column of her throat and eliciting whimpers from the blonde beneath her. She licked a gentle trail along the Valkyrie’s collarbone before kissing her way down her chest, ending her journey at the space between Tamsin’s bra-clad breasts. Bo nuzzled the generous flesh with a sigh, kissing her way along the top of the blonde’s breast before leaving gentle bites in her skin, each nip bringing a whimpering cry from Tamsin’s lips. The succubus reached around and deftly unhooked the clasp of Tamsin’s bra as she kissed her way back to the Valkyrie’s neck. With the lightest brushes of her lips, Bo nudged the straps of Tamsin’s bra down her arms before taking the garment between her teeth and pulling it from her completely. The sensuality of the display only served to increase the wetness already pooling between Tamsin’s thighs.

Once Tamsin’s bra had been tossed aside, Bo stared at what she’d revealed. The Valkyrie’s breasts were perfect – round and full with nipples of the lightest pink already pebbled with desire. Bo eagerly descended upon her, taking one breast in her hand while lowering her mouth to the other, tracing the areola with her tongue before wrapping her lips around Tamsin’s nipple. Tamsin cried out and arched her back as she tried to press more of herself against Bo. The wet heat of the succubus’s tongue drawing fiery designs over her breast had the Valkyrie reeling with delight, clenching the sheets in a white-knuckled grip as she moaned out her pleasure. Even as Bo laved Tamsin’s nipple with her tongue, she pinched and rolled the other between her fingers, cupping the generous flesh of her breast in her hand. With one last flick of her tongue, Bo moved her lips to the neglected bud, pulling it between her teeth and sucking hard.

Tamsin bucked her hips against Bo in desperation, her entire body burning with need. The succubus ran her palms down the Valkyrie’s stomach before dragging her pants and underwear down her legs with reassuring tenderness even as she looked up at the blonde with a mischievous smile. Reluctantly leaving Tamsin’s breast, Bo’s lips followed the path her hands had taken until she was nuzzling the soft curls between Tamsin’s thighs. Spreading the Valkyrie’s legs, Bo kissed her folds as she might her lips before parting them with her thumbs to reveal the soaking length of Tamsin’s sex. Her own need pulsing between her legs, Bo found the blonde’s aching clit with unerring accuracy and wrapped her lips around it, humming as she took in Tamsin’s taste. The vibrations against the sensitive bundle of nerves had Tamsin arching again as she sobbed out her pleasure. The sound stirred Bo’s own lust even further, and she slid her hand down to trace Tamsin’s entrance with her fingertips before sliding two fingers inside her.

Tamsin bit her lip, but it did nothing to stifle her shuddering moan as Bo entered her. She had never felt so complete – as if she’d found part of herself she didn’t even realize she was missing. Bo gently pulled back before sliding her fingers deeper, tenderly exploring the Valkyrie’s center until she found that ribbed patch deep within that sent jolts of pleasure crackling along Tamsin’s nerves. The Valkyrie relinquished her grip on the sheets to grasp at Bo’s shoulders instead. “Bo, please…I need…I need…” Understanding Tamsin’s plea, the succubus placed one more kiss to the blonde’s clit before replacing her mouth with her thumb. She slid up Tamsin’s body to bring their lips together again and the blonde could taste herself on Bo’s tongue as the succubus wrapped her free arm around the Valkyrie to pull her closer.

Tamsin had never been taken like this before. Tamsin had never really been taken. She’d always been the one doing the taking, finding quick pleasure in a quick fuck before going on her way. But this was different. This slow, sweet joining was unlike anything the Valkyrie had ever felt before – more pleasure than she’d ever thought was possible, every sense heightened and every part of her aware of the woman above her. Maybe it was because Tamsin was in the arms of her warrior; maybe it was because it was Bo moving inside her. Whatever the reason, there was beauty in this surrender, and Tamsin cherished every movement, every second, every sound.

The Valkyrie spread her legs further and wrapped them around Bo’s waist, and the change of angle made both women moan. Bo had begun to curl her fingertips on each downstroke, massaging that secret spot within Tamsin and sending her higher and higher. The succubus quickened her thrusts as the blonde began to buck her hips more frantically, the swell of her release rolling through her like a wave for shore, sharpening as it crested…

“So close,” Tamsin gasped. “Bo, so close.”

“That’s it, baby,” Bo encouraged. “Come for me, Tamsin.”

Tamsin opened her eyes to meet Bo’s, expecting her gaze to be bright blue, but the succubus’s eyes remained their warm, caring brown. The knowledge that Bo was joining with her not as a succubus but as herself sent Tamsin over the edge.

The Valkyrie tossed her head back as she came with a sharp cry. Her climax cascaded from her center to the very tips of her fingers and toes and Tamsin let it take her, safe to let go in Bo’s arms. Bo continued to move within the Valkyrie as she succumbed to her pleasure, drawing out the aftershocks until Tamsin lay spent. For a moment, the blonde could only lie there with her eyes clenched shut as she struggled to breathe. When she’d finally managed a semblance of composure, she opened her eyes to gaze up at Bo.

The smile that lit Tamsin’s face made Bo’s heart ache. It was vulnerable and almost shy but filled with carefree, unrestrained joy. Bo thought the blonde had never looked so beautiful as when her smile was so bright and her happiness made the succubus grin in return. Tamsin bit her lip – again, almost shyly – before leaning up to press her lips to Bo’s with a giddy sigh. Bo giggled into the kiss, tenderly stroking the blonde’s cheek. She was so enraptured that it took her a moment to realize that Tamsin was tugging at her nightie. “Please…” Bo complied, tossing the silk over her head before lifting off Tamsin just far enough to take off her panties as well. Both women moaned as the succubus pressed her body back to Tamsin’s, relishing the feel of each other’s skin. Tamsin reached between them to where their hips met and gently parted Bo’s folds. Placing one hand at the small of the succubus’s back, the Valkyrie guided her down so that their clits pressed together.

Bo threw her head back and cried out at the sensation, propping herself up on her elbows for leverage as she ground her hips against Tamsin’s. Tamsin lifted her head to take one of Bo’s nipples into her mouth, eliciting further moans from the succubus. The Valkyrie brought her free hand to Bo’s neglected breast, cupping the soft mound in her palm and worshiping her nipple with her fingertips.

Both women could feel the slickness of their arousal meeting each other’s and the sensation of being so connected heightened their already-frantic desire. Bo reached between them and dipped her fingers in their combined essence, painting her lips before sucking on her fingers. Tamsin’s vision grew hazy with lust as she watched and when Bo bent her head to kiss Tamsin, the blonde responded eagerly, both of them whimpering at the shared taste. Succubus and Valkyrie clung to each other as they moved in perfect sync, spiraling higher and higher until their orgasm sent them soaring. Each screamed out the other’s name as ecstasy caressed their every nerve in all-consuming bliss before subsiding into shudders.

Bo collapsed on top of Tamsin, who wrapped her arms around the brunette’s waist. When the succubus tried to roll away, the Valkyrie let out an “mm-mn” of protest, holding her in place. Giggling, Bo kissed her again – tender and caring – before burying her face in the crook of Tamsin’s neck. The blonde hummed in content as she pulled the sheets over them both.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sincerest apologies for the delay. I made the mistake of thinking "life is all right" and the universe went " _really_ now?" and then everything went to hell. I borrowed a line from the show in here (I'm pretty sure it's from the show) and wrote this chapter to the song ["The Way You Look At Me,"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auK1JXyqgiA) by Kassie DePaiva. Extra special thanks to my friend who's stuck by me these past two months and encouraged me to write.

_I could get used to this,_ Bo thought, _waking up in Tamsin’s arms._ She shifted slightly and smiled. _Especially naked_. The succubus opened her eyes and gazed up at the sleeping Valkyrie. It was so rare that Bo saw the blonde so peaceful, so rare that she saw her smile. Except recently, when it was just the two of them, talking or cooking or just lying in bed together. Just _being_ together. Bo trailed her fingertip along the line of Tamsin’s jaw, unable to take her eyes off the warrior angel who held her so tightly. She loved how protective Tamsin was, even in her sleep. Loved how she was so strong yet still so fragile. Loved how she always seemed to know what Bo needed even when Bo didn’t herself. Loved how –

Bo sat up straight, Tamsin’s arms falling from her waist as the succubus gaped down at her with wide eyes. She loved Tamsin. That was the feeling she hadn’t been able to name: love. She didn’t recognize it because she had never felt it with such abandon, such _freedom_. Love had never been free before. There had always been strings – so many strings. Dyson had wanted her to the point of obsession – wanted to _claim_ her as his own. With Lauren it had been nothing but lie after lie, over and over. But there was none of that with Tamsin. Tamsin protected Bo, but never claimed her. Tamsin had hidden things, but never lied. Tamsin…

Tamsin loved her back. Tamsin loved her and Bo hadn’t recognized that either because she had never known love to be so freely given. Bo knew love as a burden, but Tamsin took all her burdens away. Tamsin…who was now blinking up at her with no small amount of confusion. “…Bo?”

It wasn’t as if the Valkyrie was complaining about the way she’d woken up. Quite the contrary – staring up at a very naked, smiling Bo was something Tamsin wanted to wake up to every morning. But that was a hope hidden in the deepest recesses of her heart, not something she actually expected to happen. Tamsin rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t dreaming and when she opened them again, the succubus was still grinning down at her. “Bo?” she repeated.

“I love you,” Bo replied with both bemusement and surety. “I didn’t recognize it because I’d never really felt it,” she continued, reiterating her earlier thoughts as a wide-eyed Tamsin sat up to gape at her. “Not until now. Not until _you_. I love you, Tamsin.” And the Valkyrie could tell from the content, almost proud smile on Bo’s face that the succubus didn’t expect her to say it back. It was just something she needed Tamsin to know without pressure or expectations.

The only way to describe the sound that escaped the Valkyrie’s lips was a sort of choked sob that was somehow also a laugh of pure joy. The blonde searched Bo’s gaze with desperate hope and saw only the love that the succubus had proclaimed. Overwhelmed, Tamsin gasped, “Bo, I love you, too.”

Bo’s smile widened into a grin as she and Tamsin fell into each other’s arms. The succubus held tight to the Valkyrie, feeling her tears against her cheek. “I love you,” Tamsin gasped again. “I love you, I love you, I love you.” Each time she said it lightened her heart until she felt she could soar without wings so long as she was in Bo’s embrace. Bo responded by pulling away just far enough to bring their lips together.

Tamsin whimpered unashamedly as she opened her mouth against Bo’s, yielding to the gentle sweep of the succubus’s tongue against hers. Their lips met again and again as they fell backwards on the bed. Bo was about to kiss her way down Tamsin’s body when the Valkyrie tenderly rolled them over so the succubus lay beneath her. “It’s my turn, love,” she murmured. The easy use of the word “love” made Bo shiver in delight, and she willingly surrendered to the Valkyrie above her.

Tamsin took her time brushing gentle kisses across Bo’s cheeks, on her eyelids, against her lips before trailing along her jaw to nibble at her earlobe. Her hands gently teased along the succubus’s stomach all the while, not quite reaching to where Bo wanted no matter how much the brunette arched into her touch. Tamsin was determined to worship every inch of the woman she loved with all the tenderness she possessed – to make love to her, for that’s what this was, making love, as it had been the night before without their even realizing. The Valkyrie dragged her lips and tongue along Bo’s collarbone before kissing down the center of her chest. When Tamsin placed open-mouthed kisses against Bo’s breasts, gently cupping them in her hands, Bo moaned out her frustration, arching upward once again to try and direct Tamsin where she needed her. The Valkyrie chuckled before wrapping her lips around Bo’s aching nipple, sucking gently as she laved the pert bud with her tongue. The succubus let out a whimpering sigh at Tamsin’s warm mouth against her skin as the blonde’s skillful fingers manipulated the neglected bud into a hard peak. With one last brush of her lips against Bo’s nipple, Tamsin replaced her mouth with her fingertips as she moved to pay worship to the opposite breast. Just when the sweet torture had Bo dizzy with delight, Tamsin regretfully took her mouth away, instead kissing her way down Bo’s stomach.

The succubus didn’t resist as Tamsin spread her legs apart but was both surprised and aroused when the Valkyrie bent to kiss the arch of her foot before continuing along her calf and thigh. Just when Bo thought Tamsin was going to finally press her lips against her center, Tamsin moved to repeat her gentle ministrations to the opposite leg, and the tender worship only served to send Bo spiraling higher. By the time Tamsin was nuzzling the curls between Bo’s thighs, inhaling deeply, Bo was whimpering and bucking her hips in desperation. Placing the softest kiss against her folds, Tamsin spread the succubus’s lips and took one long lick up her slit.

Bo screamed out as Tamsin moaned her own delight, the taste of the succubus overwhelming her senses. Greedy for more, Tamsin lapped at the brunette’s center with abandon, tracing circles around her clit with the tip of her tongue. Bo thrashed and arched against her so forcefully that Tamsin nearly had to hold her down. With one quick nip to her clit that elicited another scream from the brunette, Tamsin slid her tongue into Bo’s core, gently but firmly rubbing the succubus’s swollen bundle of nerves with her thumb.

The succubus cried out long and loud, contorting in pleasure as the Valkyrie’s tongue swirled within her. She had never felt such pleasure as she did with Tamsin, never felt so _alive_ as she did with Tamsin – never felt like she could truly let go. And she was closer and closer to letting go, the ecstasy igniting and building within her center just waiting to be released. Sensing this, Tamsin increased the speed of her tongue within and fingers against Bo’s center, eager to taste her climax. Without ceasing her ministrations, the Valkyrie lifted her gaze and found Bo’s eyes meeting hers as the succubus teetered on the edge. And just as it had for Tamsin in the darkness, so did this gaze for Bo in the dawn, her orgasm bursting from her core to consume her in pleasure made all the more beautiful by love. Bo screamed and shook as Tamsin rode out her climax, drinking every last drop of her release. Only when the succubus had gone limp on the bed did Tamsin slow to a stop, placing one last kiss to Bo’s center before crawling up her body.

“I love you, Bo,” the Valkyrie whispered, placing a kiss over the brunette’s still-pounding heart. Bo responded by pulling Tamsin flush against her, cradling her jaw as she lifted her head to meet the blonde in a bruising kiss.

Bo moaned at the taste of herself on Tamsin’s lips, wrapping her arms around the Valkyrie’s neck to bring her closer. Tamsin wrapped her arms around Bo and pulled them both up so they knelt face to face, legs spread. The Valkyrie was just about to press their centers together when Bo gasped out, “I need you inside me.” It was Tamsin’s turn to moan as she happily complied, gliding her hand down Bo’s stomach before slipping two fingers into the brunette. The succubus whimpered and bucked her hips, urging Tamsin deeper as she reached forward and slid her own fingers into the blonde.

Both women sighed out their pleasure and instinctively arched towards each other, fingers pressing deeper. Each stroked tenderly within the other, fingertips reaching and searching until they brushed those hidden spots within that made them both cry out their joy. Thumbs pressed against clits as they rocked their bodies together, Valkyrie and succubus, merging into one as they spiraled higher and higher. They broke together, gazes locked, cries of joy ringing out in the morning as they fell apart in each other’s arms, swept up in combined release that overcame them both. Bo and Tamsin clung to each other as they rode out their release and the ebbing aftershocks, slumping in each other’s arms when they finally drifted back to Earth.

“I love you,” they each murmured, then laughed at their simultaneity. Unable to hold themselves or each other up any longer, they once again fell back against the bed, still gasping for air in the wake of their climax. Bo curled up against Tamsin, who wrapped her arms around the brunette and held her close. They simply lay like that for a time, basking in the afterglow and cherishing each other’s presence. “We should get up,” Bo mumbled some time later, though not with any conviction. “We really should,” Tamsin agreed, though not really. They let the comfortable silence stretch a little longer before Bo let out a long sigh, knowing that as much as they both wanted to stay in bed with each other and savor their newly-admitted love, the world would not wait on them. “You know...we still have to shower,” Tamsin commented, and Bo could almost hear the wry smile creeping across her face. Bo looked up to find the Valkyrie indeed smirking - an expression the succubus quickly matched.

“You’re right; we do. It would be a shame to use all the hot water, though,” Bo commented slyly.

“We could always share the shower,” Tamsin offered oh-so-innocently.

Bo’s grin was nothing short of a leer. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

Both women tumbled over each other in their haste to get to the bathroom, giggling the whole time. Tamsin couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed so freely except for the past few days when she was with Bo. She had kept her feelings hidden to the point of pain, and for Bo to have spoken first, to have reciprocated her unspoken desires, was to the Valkyrie as sweet a release as the ones found in the succubus’s embrace. On a whim, Tamsin picked Bo up and spun her around, and the laughter this elicited from the brunette made her heart sing. Bo, for her part, wrapped her legs around Tamsin and nuzzled her neck as the Valkyrie carried her into the bathroom. Her heart was all the lighter, too, having found in Tamsin what it truly meant to love. And now that Bo had found it, had found _her_ , she never wanted to let go. Kicking the door shut behind her, Tamsin lowered Bo to the tile floor, reaching around so she could turn on the water. Once the temperature was to their satisfaction, both women stepped under the hot spray with a sigh, once again embracing each other as the water cascaded over and around them.

It was as she rested her chin on Tamsin’s shoulder that Bo noticed something about the Valkyrie’s shower that hadn’t seemed important to her before but now was rather crucial. Leering once again, the succubus gently turned them around and pushed at Tamsin’s shoulders, encouraging her to sit. The Valkyrie gave her a suspicious look but complied nonetheless, lowering herself to the floor of the tub. Eyes sparkling with mischief, Bo grabbed the detachable showerhead and climbed around Tamsin so she spooned her from behind, reaching around the blonde’s waist. Realizing what the succubus had in mind, Tamsin’s arousal flared back to life and she moaned her anticipation. “You devious, _devious_ succubitch,” she accused breathlessly even as she spread her folds with her fingertips, baring her still-swollen clit. Bo merely chuckled in response before pressing a kiss to the back of Tamsin’s neck. She entered the blonde without warning, two fingers reaching deep as she angled the showerhead so the spray of water hit the apex of Tamsin’s thighs.

The Valkyrie cried out at the sharp, sudden pleasure, already bucking her hips desperately. Bo hooked her ankles over the blonde’s in an attempt to keep her down, thankful that Tamsin’s rather spacious tub allowed her to do so. Still Tamsin thrashed in her embrace, trying to escape yet chase the surge of water that Bo drew in circles against her clit. The succubus thrust into Tamsin all the while, swirling and scissoring her fingers within her scorching center. Tamsin had barely reached the edge before her climax tumbled through her, leaving her screaming and shuddering in Bo’s arms. The succubus continued her assault with the showerhead, riding out Tamsin’s aftershocks until the Valkyrie weakly batted her away, too sensitive to withstand anymore. Bo set the showerhead aside and gently pulled her fingers from within the blonde, instead rubbing tender circles on her stomach.

Despite her pounding heart and gasping breaths, Tamsin was so still that Bo wondered if she’d fallen asleep. She was about to ask, but let out a startled yelp instead as Tamsin sprang up and deftly clambered over the succubus until she was the one spooning her. Locking her ankles around Bo’s, Tamsin grabbed the showerhead and directed the spray of water lower and lower on her stomach. “Turnabout, succubus,” she purred and Bo whimpered, eagerly spreading herself for the blonde. It was her turn to cry out in ecstasy as Tamsin slid within her and the hot water assaulted her clit.

Tamsin was stronger than Bo, easily holding the succubus in place and restricting her thrashing movements. Her fingers were longer and reached deeper into Bo’s core, every so often brushing that delicate skin that sent bolts of pleasure crackling through Bo’s center. And the Valkyrie never ceased the onslaught of water, drawing patterns over the succubus’s clit until Bo was crying out over and over, pleading for release. It finally broke through with a scream of ecstasy, the succubus shaking as her orgasm consumed her. She was so delirious with pleasure that the world seemed to melt away around her – all but Tamsin, warm and solid and soothing against her back, whispering words of encouragement as Bo skirted the edges of consciousness. After a glorious eternity that faded away with the aftershocks, it was the succubus’s turn to push the showerhead away, gasping as she tried to recover in the Valkyrie’s embrace.

“I love you, Tamsin,” Bo murmured when she’d found her voice again, tilting her head to look up at the Valkyrie. The blonde’s smile was blindingly bright as she bent to kiss Bo over her shoulder. The tenderness and devotion within that kiss brought tears stinging to the corner of the brunette’s eyes.

“And I love you, Bo,” Tamsin whispered when she pulled away, brushing her nose against Bo’s. And it was Bo’s turn to light the room with her smile.

The gentle caresses that followed were not meant to inflame, but to explore – to worship. They washed each other tenderly and thoroughly, learning each other inch by inch, touch by touch, kiss by kiss. And every so often, one would murmur words of love to the other – words freely returned. And when the water finally chilled and the two were forced to leave the shower, they simply stood in each other’s embrace, happier than they could ever remember being in their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has pictures now!  
> Covers: [1](http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z201/restless_goddess/Book%20Covers/cover.jpg), [2](http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z201/restless_goddess/Book%20Covers/cover2.jpg), [3](http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z201/restless_goddess/Book%20Covers/cover3.jpg), [4](http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z201/restless_goddess/Book%20Covers/cover4.jpg)  
> OCs: [1](http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z201/restless_goddess/Book%20Covers/OCs.jpg), [2](http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z201/restless_goddess/Book%20Covers/OCs2.jpg)


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Tamsin made pancakes that morning, though the task was made rather difficult by Bo snuggling against her back, arms around her waist. Far from bothered, though, Tamsin couldn’t stop grinning as she cooked, every so often reaching down to caress the hands folded across her stomach. In fact, neither woman could keep smiles off their faces, even as they ate.

“Tamsin!” Bo exclaimed when they were halfway through their pancakes.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“You’re actually _chewing_ your food!” the succubus teased.

Tamsin looked down at her half-full plate and shrugged, cheeks flushing ever-so-slightly. Bo grinned all the wider, knowing that the woman was purposefully eating slowly so that the two of them could share their meal. On impulse, Bo leaned forward so they could also share a rather syrupy kiss. “I love you,” she whispered.

Tamsin brushed her nose against Bo’s. “I love you, too.”

As the two sat finishing their coffee, Bo checked her text messages and frowned. “What is it?” Tamsin asked.

“According to Kenzi, the Morrigan wants to see me today. A half hour from now, actually.”

It was Tamsin’s turn to frown. “What could the Morrigan possibly want that she’s calling you to her office?”

The succubus shrugged with a sigh. “Probably something to do with the veil. Kenzi said she’d meet us there, even though, and I quote ‘bitch won’t let me in, but it’s not gonna keep me from pissing her off.’” Tamsin gave a snort of laughter and Bo chuckled. After a pause, the succubus asked almost timidly, “You are going with me, right?”

Tamsin slid from her stool and moved around the counter to where Bo sat, wrapping her arms around the succubus’s waist. “Of course, _mo laoch_.” It was only after she’d let the words slip that she realized what she’d said, and her eyes widened with a hint of panic.

“You still haven't told me what that means,” Bo murmured, though not unkindly.

“It’s…an endearment,” Tamsin struggled. “I _will_ tell you, Bo. I promise I will. It’s just…it’s…”

Bo silenced her with a kiss. “I understand, Tamsin,” she whispered when they pulled apart. “Really, I do.” Whatever this endearment was, the succubus realized that it must have a deep, personal meaning for the Valkyrie, one that she wasn’t quite ready to share yet. Just knowing how personal it must be made Bo feel…honored, in a way. Cherished.

Relieved and grateful, Tamsin brushed their lips together again. “ _Tá grá agam duit_ , Bo. I love you.”

Bo smiled, shy despite herself. “Is that what it means? ‘I love you’?” she asked. When Tamsin nodded, she continued, “Which word means love?”

 _“Grá,”_ the Valkyrie replied.

Bo thought on what Tamsin had taught her about Irish. “So… would _mo grá_ mean ‘my love’?”

Tamsin gave her a delighted grin. “Very good, succulette! Almost. ‘My love’ would be _mo ghrá_.”

“I can barely hear the difference.”

The Valkyrie chuckled. “It’s a soft ‘gh’ instead of a hard ‘g.’ It’s one of the many quirks of Irish.”

“Well, you’ll have to teach me later… _mo ghrá_.”

The smile that lit Tamsin’s face was such that Bo decided she would use Irish more often from then on.

…

After finishing their breakfast and freshening up, Tamsin and Bo made their way to the Dark Compound and their meeting with the Morrigan. Kenzi was pacing outside the door to Evony’s office when they got there, and the moment the human’s gaze locked with Tamsin’s, the Valkyrie knew she was in for the Inquisition.

“Succubus only,” one of the two guards manning the door grunted, opening said door to let Bo in.

“Yeah, yeah,” Bo waved him off. Looking back at Tamsin, she squeezed her hand and gave her a little smile before entering the room, leaving the Valkyrie and human in the hall. As soon as the door shut behind them, Kenzi grabbed Tamsin’s arm and yanked her down the hall, out of earshot of the guards.

“Spill,” the human demanded in a hushed hiss, crossing her arms over her chest.

Tamsin shifted from foot to foot, uncomfortable. “Spill what?”

Kenzi rolled her eyes. “Bitch, _please_. You’re glowing so bright you might as well be radioactive. Your posture and that _look_ you and Bo gave each other scream ‘I just had seeeeeex,’” the human assessed, singing the last bit off-key. “Spill it. Now.”

The Valkyrie pursed her lips and crossed her arms, mimicking Kenzi’s stance. “Fine. I’ll tell you all about me and Bo if you tell me about how well you and Hale have been getting along these past few days. So what’s it like staying at his place, hmm?”

The human’s expression didn’t change, but her face flushed a deep red. “My relationship with Hale, as… _active_ as it is…is not nearly as interesting and complicated as your relationship with Bo – a relationship I noticed you’re not denying.” Kenzi grabbed Tamsin’s hands and squeezed them urgently. “Pleeeeease tell Mama Kenz! I need the deets!”

Tamsin’s eyes took on a faraway look as she thought back to the previous night and earlier that morning, a rather giddy smile slowly spreading across her face. This was all the confirmation Kenzi needed and the human shrieked her delight, wrapping her arms around the Valkyrie’s waist. “You _did_! You _totally_ knocked knees with Bo-Bo! I’m so _proud_ of you! I don’t need to hear the _detailed_ details, but I’m _so proud_ of you!”

“She loves me,” Tamsin breathed, absentmindedly patting the shorter woman’s back.

Kenzi looked up at the blonde with an almost befuddled look. “Well, um, yeah, I coulda told you that.”

“Momz, she _said_ it,” Tamsin clarified, pulling away from Kenzi so she could meet her gaze. “She said it first and I said it back and…” The Valkyrie trailed off with a happy sigh, still grinning dazedly. Kenzi, for her part, was gaping at her pseudo-daughter-figure with wide eyes.

“She _said_ it? _First?!_ She…oh _damn_ , yes!” the Russian cheered, punching the air. “So you told her everything, right?”

Tamsin’s smile faded. “Well…not exactly…”

Kenzi gaped at the Valkyrie again, though this time her shock was tinged with annoyance. “ _Seriously?_ Tam-Tam, honey, you’ve gotta tell her. I mean, if she said those three magic words first, I think she’ll be pretty understanding of your Valkyrie bond-love.”

“It’s not that simple, Kenz,” Tamsin tried to explain, and this time her sigh was melancholy. “And it’s too soon. We only just admitted our feelings to each other this morning. To tell her now would be taking things _way_ too fast.”

“You said it yourself – you just _admitted_ your feelings this morning. Your actual feelings for each other have been going on a shit ton longer than that,” Kenzi protested. “And how do you think she’ll feel about you _hiding_ things from her, hmm?”

Tamsin flinched. “I know, I know. That’s what makes this so much harder. It’s not that I’m not willing to put my life in Bo’s hands, ‘cause that’s what this is. It’s that…I don’t want to take her life away from her. I don’t want to be the one to tie her down.”

It was Kenzi’s turn to sigh. “I don’t think she’ll see it like that, but if you’re gonna be a masochist about this, then far be it from me to take you away from your self-flagellation,” the human groused in exasperation.

The Valkyrie glowered at her. “I’m going to tell her, Kenz. It’s just…I need time. You and Kayleigh were the ones that said I had plenty of time to figure this out.”

Kenzi’s expression darkened. “Tam, Bo’s in a meeting with the _Morrigan_ right now along with Trick and Fíonn. I’m thinking that means the current shitstorm has just picked up speed. You may not have as much time as you think. None of us might.”

…

In Evony’s office, the discussion indeed concerned said shitstorm.

“I’ve been contacted by almost every Dark sídhe in the area,” the Morrigan told Bo, Trick, and Fíonn. “The veil is torn to the point that they can feel it. _I_ can feel it.”

“So can I,” Fíonn added grimly.

“And me,” said Trick. “A lot of Light sídhe have been coming to me as well, and I’m not sure what to tell them.”

“You’re sídhe?” Bo exclaimed in surprise. “But…you’re a blood sage. I thought…”

“His full name is Fitzpatrick McCorrigan; how could he _not_ be sídhe?” Fíonn commented as Trick gave his granddaughter a guilty, forlorn look. Bo could feel the anger welling up within her, but before she could unleash it, she remembered what Tamsin had said about forgiveness. Tamping down her ire, Bo vowed to talk to Trick about it later.

“My mother…Aífe said the other day that she could feel it, too – that Dagda made sure she could feel the veil.”

“That makes sense, unfortunately,” the Morrigan sighed. “Anyone with sídhe blood can be manipulated to feel the veil, and Dagda is powerful enough to do that sort of manipulating.”

“Wait, so only sídhe can sense the veil but anyone with sídhe blood has the potential to sense it?” Bo clarified.

Fíonn nodded. “My father was sídhe, but I’m the only one who became sídhe, too, so I can feel disturbances in the veil,” he explained. “Aislinn, being my sister, has sídhe blood, but can’t feel the veil because her Fae type isn’t sídhe. With the right amount of magic, though, she would be able to connect to it.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t noticed anything, succubus,” The Morrigan commented, though her comment was more of a taunt. “After all, if what I hear is correct and Dagda really is your father, that would make you three-quarters sídhe, what with Aífe having a sídhe father and all.”

“Evony,” Trick warned. The Morrigan gave him a dismissive wave, unaffected.

Bo sighed and rubbed her forehead. “So this is a meeting between sídhe and me, since most of this is my fault.”

“As much as I’d like to agree, it’s not _entirely_ your fault,” Evony admitted grudgingly. “After talking with Fíonn and Aífe – I must say, she’s been much more cooperative since your visits – it’s more likely that the tears in the veil already existed and that your little leap of faith simply widened the tear. You wouldn’t have made it onto the Death Train if there hadn’t already been a way to get there. But all this aside, the fact that the veil is torn enough that the other sídhe can feel it and the approach of Samhain mean that we need to double our efforts in figuring out how to fix this. Yes, we, succubus,” she added, seeing Bo’s stunned and skeptical expression.

“So what are you going to tell the other sídhe?” Fíonn asked Trick and the Morrigan. “How much is _safe_ to tell them?”

Evony pursed her lips and tapped her fingertips on her desk. “I don’t need a panicked revolt on my hands, nor do I need the Dark to have knowledge that I am working with the Light to fix this.”

“You once said that sídhe are sídhe,” Bo interjected. “Wouldn’t they understand working with the Light, then?”

Trick gave Bo a look of shocked approval while the Morrigan scowled. “I _hate_ it when you’re right,” she spat. She folded her arms and leaned back in her chair. “Fine. I’ll tell the Dark sídhe that I am aware of the issue and working on a solution with…a committee of other Fae.”

“I’ll tell the Light sídhe much the same with one addition: that should this become a battle, they must be ready to fight,” Trick replied. “In the meantime, we have to figure out a way to close the tear, preferably without the use of one of the Four Treasures."

“And why’s that?” Fíonn frowned.

“There’s only one treasure left on our side,” Trick explained. “If our suspicions are correct, the imbalance is what’s causing the tear in the veil. Now imagine having two treasures in the Otherworld and none here.”

“Oh,” Fíonn understood, face paling.

“But if we _do_ need to use the treasure, we don’t even know where to start looking,” Bo protested. “All we know is that it’s the Spear, right?”

“Then we’d best get to work finding out, hadn’t we?” the Morrigan snapped.

“Not tonight,” Trick cut them off. “I’ll keep the Dal open so that any sídhe with questions can find me. Then tomorrow we’ll keep digging. We’ll change locations as Lauren suggested, just in case.”

“So, what, we’re just going to wait around and drink tonight?” Bo asked incredulously.

Fíonn shrugged. “We’re in a completely different part of the world, but I’m going to say it anyway: welcome to Ireland.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea if a blood sage is a type of sídhe. I'm just making things up for purposes of the story. The last line of the chapter is an homage to one of my favorite books.
> 
> Language Lessons:  
> "Tá grá agam duit": Pronounced "taw graw agam dit." "I love you."  
> "Mo ghrá": Pronounced "moe (gh)raw." "My love." I should probably explain the extra "h" at this point. If a word beginning with a consonant is preceded by "my" or "your" then it takes an "h" (called a séimhú ("shay-voo"), or softening).


	17. Chapter Seventeen

“Helloooooo, Earth to Bo-Bo!” Kenzi prodded, waving her hand in front of the succubus’s face. Everyone was spending one last calm night at the Dal before things got serious again.

“Hmm?” the brunette replied without looking. She was busy gazing at Tamsin as she and Fíonn played doubles against Dyson and Hale. Every so often the Valkyrie would look over and wink at her, making Bo’s heart beat wildly in her chest. She wanted to push her drink aside and bend Tamsin over the pool table, but she had the feeling that would be frowned upon.

“Oh my _God_ , you have it _so bad_!” Kenzi giggled, giving her friend a shove.

“I really do, Kenz,” Bo sighed. “I just wish…”

“You just wish what, Bobolicious?”

Bo tore her gaze away from Tamsin to look at the girl she considered a sister. “She’s never lied to me, not once. But there _are_ things she’s keeping from me. It’s like she’s scared to tell me and I don’t understand why. And then there’s her _wings_ ,” Bo added with no small amount of distress. “I wish there was something I could do to help, but I don’t know what.”

“Tamsin’s not the only one with Valkyrie smarts,” Kenzi pointed out. “Kayleigh’s mom was a Valkyrie, remember? You could always ask her.”

Bo bit her lip. “I suppose, but I don’t want to go behind Tamsin’s back…”

“You’re _not_ , Bo. And if Tam-Tam gets mad, you can blame it all on me, promise,” the Russian insisted.

The succubus sighed again, her curiosity finally winning. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll go ask Kayleigh. Thanks, Kenzi,” she smiled, giving her friend a hug.

“It’s what I’m here for. Now go get yourself some answers,” the human said with a push at Bo’s back, directing her to where the empath and her girlfriend were talking over drinks.

Kayleigh had to do her best not to smirk, feeling Bo’s curiosity before she even saw the succubus approaching. Kenzi had called her earlier and said that if Tamsin wasn’t going to make a move it was up to them to get in the game. Kayleigh had readily agreed and it hadn’t taken long to plan things out. So the empath was ready with a nonchalant expression when the brunette reached her side. “Hey, Bo, what’s up?”

“Hey, Kayleigh. I, um, have a few questions about Valkyries,” the succubus began awkwardly.

“Sure, fire away,” Kayleigh replied. Aislinn took a long drink from her pint to hide her knowing grin.

“Well, I was wondering…what did your mom’s wings feel like?” Bo began, thinking back to the afternoon she had run her fingers through Tamsin’s rough feathers.

Kayleigh shrugged. “Wouldn’t know; I never touched them. I valued my fingers too much.”

Bo frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you see what Tamsin did with her wings when we fought those Under-Fae behind the Dal? You probably had the best seat in the house – she was standing right over you. A Valkyrie’s wings can be both weapon and shield,” the empath explained, unknowingly echoing Tamsin’s own words to Kenzi. “Anyone who touches them gets sliced.”

Feeling both uneasy and abundantly more curious, Bo continued, “But is there a way to feel the feathers without getting cut?”

“Yeah, if a Valkyrie pulls a feather out and hands it to you. Mom did that for me once. You have to take it quickly, though; Valkyrie feathers don’t last long when they’re taken from the wing. It felt sort of fluffy before it vanished.”

“What color were your mom’s wings?”

“Pure white, so bright they were almost blinding,” Kayleigh smiled, looking a little wistful at the memory.

“Just white? No hints of brown or anything?” Bo clarified, thinking back to the original appearance of Tamsin’s wings.

“Nope. Just white.”

“So what does it mean when a Valkyrie’s wings are black?”

“Like Tamsin’s are, you mean?” Kayleigh interpreted. Bo blushed and nodded. “I’m not a hundred percent sure,” the empath lied, trying not to grin. Aislinn once again had to take a long pull of beer. “I think it’s some sacred change of sorts. Mom said her wings were black once, but that was before I was born.”

“Did she ever tell you why?”

Kayleigh shook her head, feigning a look of contemplative ignorance. “Not that I can recall. Trick might know something, though. I think he has a book about Valkyries.” This was information passed to her by Kenzi for the specific purpose of leaving breadcrumbs for Bo to follow.

“Thanks, Kayleigh. Oh, uh, one last question. Aislinn, you might be able to answer this better, actually.”

“Sure, what’s up?” the blonde empath queried.

“Tamsin’s called me something in Irish a few times that I don’t understand. What does ‘ _mo laoch_ ’ mean?”

The empaths’ eyes widened. “She called you that?” Kayleigh exclaimed, stunned. When Bo nodded, the brunette empath let out a low whistle. “Damn, woman doesn’t do anything by halves, does she?”

“So you know what it means?” Bo prodded hopefully.

“That’s Tamsin’s place to tell you, not mine,” Kayleigh replied. “And she will tell you. She just…keeps things to herself sometimes. But you’ll be able to strong-arm it out of her, I’m sure.”

Bo sighed her acceptance. “I guess…I’ll go ask Trick about that book. Thanks, Kayleigh.”

“No bother.”

It was only after the succubus was out of earshot that Aislinn spoke. “You evil, _evil_ woman,” she teased her girlfriend, accentuating each “evil” with a smack to the brunette’s arm. Kayleigh’s responding grin did nothing to contradict the blonde’s assertion.

Bo wasn’t looking forward to talking to her grandfather, but she knew it needed to be done, and not just because she wanted information about Valkyries. She wanted, _needed_ an explanation for his behavior just as much as she needed to forgive him. She didn’t blame him, not exactly. She just wanted to understand his reasoning so there was nothing between them. Finding Trick at one end of the bar, the succubus took a deep breath and headed towards him. When Trick looked up to see who was approaching, his expression became one of solemn anguish. Bo had just opened her mouth to speak when he beat her to it.

“I’m sorry, Bo. I should have told you.” The succubus blinked in surprised, but nodded for her grandfather to continue. “I don’t hide things because I want to, Bo, but because I _have_ to,” he began, struggling to find the right words. “It’s imperative that my identity remains a secret. Most of the Fae know me as the simple keeper of a way station, and it needs to stay that way. Only other sídhe know that I’m sídhe as well and very, _very_ few people know that I’m…who I am. The more people who know, the more danger I’m in, and the more danger there is for the those who know. I didn’t want to put you in that sort of danger, Bo. I just wanted to keep you safe. And in the end, I hurt you by trying not to hurt you, and for that I am truly, _truly_ sorry.”

To the Blood King’s surprise, Bo smiled at him. “I forgive you, Trick. I do. I think…I understand why, now. And that’s really all I wanted – was to understand. Your secrets are safe with me.”

“I’m through keeping secrets from you, Bo,” Trick replied. “Anything you want to know, go ahead and ask.”

Bo let out a little laugh. “Funny you should say that now, ‘cause what I want to know has nothing to do with you or your past.”

Trick raised his eyebrows with a hint of a smirk. “Oh? Whose past are you trying to delve into that you think I might know something about it?”

Bo chuckled at his very correct assumption. “Well…I was wondering about Valkyries, actually, and Kayleigh could only tell me a little bit. I’m worried about Tamsin,” she admitted. “Her wings are all black and they feel so rough and – ”

“Wait,” Trick stopped her, startled. “She pulled out one of her feathers for you?”

“No, that’s just it – I touched her wings, and Kayleigh said that’s impossible.”

Trick’s jaw dropped as he stared at his granddaughter with wide eyes. “But that means you’re… Here, come with me,” he beckoned, leading her to the door to his lair.

Bo followed Trick down to his lair and over to a small shelf. Browsing the contents for a moment, the Blood King pulled out a thin volume with a Norse rune burned into the leather cover. “Here – it’s one of the few written records about Valkyries,” he explained, handing it to his granddaughter. “Most of it is just gross speculation and wild theories, but it’s the only text with an accurate description of the Valkyrie Bond.”

“Thank you,” Bo murmured, taking the tome. Having the answers at her fingertips filled her with both excitement and dread, and she found her hands trembling as she opened the book to the first page. Giving Trick one last smile, she sat down on the couch and began to read. Trick smiled in return before leaving her to her study.

Trick reached the top of the stairs to find a grinning Kenzi and Kayleigh waiting for him. Looking back and forth between the two of them, he let out an exasperated sigh. “I should’ve known you had a hand in this,” he grumbled, rolling his eyes. The two girls could only giggle before clinking their shot glasses together and tossing back the alcohol.

Kayleigh gave Bo about fifteen minutes of reading time before making her way over to Tamsin, who was throwing back her own shot of vodka. “Hey, Tam, Bo’s looking for you,” she told her casually. “She’s down in Trick’s Lair.”

Tamsin frowned in wary confusion, not even bothering to say thank you as she made her way to the stairs. Kayleigh was grinning so broadly at her retreating back that she only distantly felt Aislinn come up behind her. “Evil, evil, _evil_!” the blonde empath accused with more hits to her shoulder.

…

When Tamsin reached the bottom of the stairs, Bo was sitting on the couch with the closed book in her lap, tapping her fingers on the cover. Trick had been right: the majority of the book was speculation, but the part about the bond had been written by a Fae who regretted his acceptance and, in his spite, revealed his Valkyrie’s secrets. He described the changing of her wings, the connection between their hearts, how he could feel pleasure with no one but her, and how their lives were forever entwined in almost unnatural longevity. What broke Bo’s heart the most was what he said of her wings: so enraged was this Fae that he wanted to cut them off himself, being the only person who would ever be able to touch them in all the Valkyrie’s lives. Despite the vitriol behind the explanation, it was everything Bo needed to know about what was happening to Tamsin.

Hearing the footsteps on the stairs come to a stumbling halt, Bo turned to gaze at the woman she loved, who was staring back at her with anguished fear and resignation. “When were you going to tell me?” Bo murmured.

“I didn’t know how,” Tamsin managed in a hoarse voice. “How do you tell someone that you love them so much that your life is tied to theirs? How do you tell someone that you want to bond with them for the rest of both your lives, never to break apart? How do you tell someone that knowing that it may not be what they want?”

Bo patted the space next to her on the couch and Tamsin obeyed, sitting wearily and resting her forearms on her knees. “One of the many things I love about you Bo is how _free_ you are – independent and willful and steadfast in your beliefs. You never let anyone force you into anything – hell, you’re _unaligned_. The relationships you had before…those two tried to force you and control you and it’s pissed me off from the start. When I Fell, I knew I Fell for you, and I promised myself that I would never, _ever_ try to force you to accept the bond. I want you to be free to make your own choices, Bo, even if it means…” Tamsin choked back a sob. “I want to be in your life, Bo, but it would be unfair to you to tie you to me forever.”

“That night I found you downstairs and you said you were getting a drink of water…that was the night you Fell, wasn’t it?” Bo asked gently. The Valkyrie bit her lip and nodded. Bo reached over and laced her fingers with Tamsin’s. “What if this is what I want, Tamsin? What if the choice I make is to be with you?”

Tamsin squeezed Bo’s hand but didn’t meet her gaze. “Bo, this isn’t something you can take back if you change your mind. The bond is _forever_ , both in life and what comes after. You’d only ever be able to be with me. I’m not sure if you’d even be able to feed from anyone else and…well, get something out of it.”

“Monogamy worked well enough for my grandparents,” Bo pointed out with an arch of her eyebrow.

“I’m being _serious_ , Bo,” Tamsin replied, finally looking up at the succubus with tears in her eyes. “You’d be mine and I’d be yours _forever_. I love you so much, but I want you to have the freedom to…to leave, should you ever want to.”

“And that’s one of the many reasons I love _you_ so much, Tamsin,” Bo soothed, taking the Valkyrie’s face in her hands. “You’ve never tried to hold me back or tell me what to do. You’ve never once lied to me – hidden things, yes, but I can certainly understand hiding something like this. You love me for everything I am and I love you for everything you are and I never want that to end.”

“Bo, we only just said it this morning,” Tamsin protested weakly. To her surprise, Bo chuckled, shaking her head.

“Oh, Tamsin, I’ve loved you for much longer than that. I just wasn’t able to name it until this morning. But I love you, Tamsin, so very much.” She tilted the Valkyrie’s chin, forcing the blonde to meet her eyes. “You want me to be free to make my own choices? Well, I already have, and that choice is you.” Bo smiled, tenderly stroking Tamsin’s cheek. “How many times do I have to say it? I could never regret you.”

Tamsin was looking at Bo with such hope and longing that it made the succubus’s heart ache. “R-really? You want this?”

“With everything I am.”

Never taking her eyes from Bo’s, Tamsin stood from the couch, her face darkening and hollowing into its true form. Her ink-and-coal wings stretched from her back to extend their full length. Bo stood to face the Valkyrie, who held her gaze for another moment before dropping to one knee before the succubus and bowing her head. “My love, my life, my warrior, I give to you my heart.”

Bo smiled down at the woman she loved. “My love, my life, my Valkyrie, I accept, for you already have mine.”

Tamsin looked up at her then, her joy evident even in that elemental visage. Anyone but Bo would have found that smile frightening, but as the Valkyrie got to her feet before her chosen warrior, the succubus found her so very beautiful. Bo caught movement over Tamsin’s shoulder and gasped at the sight. Tamsin followed Bo’s gaze to see that, starting from the base of her wings, the inky hue of her wings was slowly giving way to a white so pure it was almost blinding. The glow spread along her feathers, chasing every hint of the darkness away. The blackness retreated to the very tips of her wings before disappearing entirely, leaving only brilliance in its wake. Bo reached out to run her hands along Tamsin’s feathers and grinned giddily at the softness beneath her fingertips. She lifted her gaze to Tamsin’s face with a happy laugh, wrapping her arms around the Valkyrie’s neck.

Tamsin stared down into her love’s eyes for a moment before realizing that her face was still in its sunken form. She had just turned her head and was retracting her wings when Bo stopped her with a hand against her cheek. “Hey,” she murmured, guiding Tamsin’s gaze to hers again. “You’re _beautiful_.” The Valkyrie responded with a smirk, cupping Bo’s face in her hands and running her thumb along her cheekbone, just below her eye. Understanding, Bo let her gaze shift from brown to brilliant blue.

Stripped to their primal forms, Bo and Tamsin met in a searing kiss, the Valkyrie wrapping both arms and wings around the succubus. Bo purred against Tamsin’s lips, the taste of her somehow more exquisite with her true face revealed. She gave the Valkyrie one last playful nip before pulling back with a mischievous smile on her face. “So is this what you meant by ‘my Valkyrie is thine’?”

Tamsin blinked, then groaned in realization, dropping her face to Bo’s shoulder. “You _did_ read it.”

“It was _beautiful_ , Tamsin. Why didn’t you finish it?”

“I tried. I couldn’t find the right words, in _any_ language,” the blonde murmured, nuzzling Bo’s neck.

“Speaking of languages, are you going to tell me what ‘ _mo laoch_ ’ means now?”

Tamsin lifted her head and smirked at her again, black eyes somehow sparkling. “Well, I’ll give you a hint. You are _mo ghrá_ ,” she kissed her lightly, “ _mo shaol_ ,” and again, “ _mo laoch_.”

“My love, my life, my warrior,” Bo breathed. “‘ _Mo laoch_ ’ means ‘my warrior.’”

“Yes it does,” Tamsin chuckled. She retracted her wings and let her face return to normal as Bo let her eyes fade back to brown. Pressing her lips to her warrior’s again, the Valkyrie murmured, “Shall we take this home?”

“Yes, please,” Bo grinned lasciviously.

Tamsin laughed, each woman wrapping an arm around the other’s waist as they headed for the stairs.

“Oh, and Tamsin?”

“Hmm?”

Bo pulled her Valkyrie into one more fierce kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you too, _mo laoch_.”

…

Kayleigh, Aislinn, Kenzi, and Fíonn were having a deep debate about movies when the two empaths nearly spat out their drinks, heads whipping in the direction of Trick’s Lair. Their reaction was so sudden that Fíonn and Kenzi followed their gaze. The four watched as Tamsin and Bo meandered towards the back door of the Dal, arms around each other’s waist, heads bent as they giggled together. Only after the door had shut behind them did Kenzi punch the air with both hands as Fíonn burst into song.

“And caaaaaaaaan you feeeeeeeel the loooooooove toniiiiiiiiiight,” the gancanagh crooned.

“Yes, actually, we can,” Kayleigh commented, indicating herself and Aislinn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Language Lesson:  
> "Mo ghrá, mo shaol, mo laoch": Pronounced "moe (gh)raw, moe hale, moe lake." "My love, my life, my warrior." "Life" by itself is "saol," pronounced "sale."


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written to Chloe Agnew's cover of "[Walking in the Air](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3hpIUSjU8E)" for soon-to-be-obvious reasons.

Anyone who saw Tamsin and Bo would’ve thought they were drunk from the way they were giggling and falling over each other. Every so often Bo would turn her head to kiss Tamsin’s cheek only to find that Tamsin had had the same idea, their lips meeting with dazed giddiness. Bo was so focused on Tamsin – just memorizing the light in her eyes and the quirk of her lips in a smile – that it took her a moment to realize the Valkyrie had led them farther back behind the Dal instead of to her truck. The succubus gave Tamsin a curious look as the blonde moved to stand in front of her, biting her lip as she took the brunette’s hands in hers. 

“Bo, do you trust me?”

“With my life,” the succubus breathed without hesitation.

Tamsin’s smile was bright but there was a devious twinkle in her eye. Placing her hands on Bo’s shoulders, the Valkyrie gently turned her around until the succubus’s back was pressed against her. The blonde then slid her hands around Bo’s waist before crossing her arms over her chest, reaching up to grab the brunette’s shoulders. “Hook your ankles behind mine,” she murmured in Bo’s ear, and the succubus obeyed carefully, knowing that Tamsin’s hold was the only thing keeping her from falling forwards. Bo’s only warning was a glimpse of Tamsin’s wings in her peripheral before the Valkyrie launched them into the air.

Bo shrieked in delight as Tamsin brought them higher and higher into the night with each powerful beat of her wings. The blonde banked right over the sweep of the city before straightening out, catching an updraft and gliding lazily along. Bo laughed and spread her arms as a child pretending to fly, except she _was_ – she was actually _flying_ in the embrace of her Valkyrie, the two of them soaring out over the city limits and over the lightly-forested countryside.

Tamsin glanced down at the woman in her arms and grinned at the expression on Bo’s face. The succubus was gaping even as she smiled in awe, taking in every inch of the expanse below them and the stars at her fingertips. As if sensing the Valkyrie’s gaze, Bo twisted her head around to look into the fathomless depths of her love’s eyes in that skeletal face that was somehow still so beautiful. “This is amazing!” Bo shouted to be heard above the wind. Tamsin smiled wider and pressed a kiss to Bo’s cheek as the succubus turned back to look out at the landscape below.

They flew in silence for a time, simply enjoying the sensation of soaring aimlessly through the night, just the two of them drifting above the world. Bo eventually turned her head back to look at Tamsin again. “Can you flip me over?” she asked, just loud enough for the Valkyrie to hear but not so loud as to disturb the windblown starlight around them.

Tamsin nodded before turning them both over so Bo lay atop her. “Hurry,” she told the succubus, and Bo complied, unhooking her ankles and spinning in Tamsin’s embrace to wrap her legs around the blonde. Tamsin tightened her arms around Bo as she rolled back, holding her love close as they continued their journey. Bo snuggled up against the blonde with a happy sigh, enjoying the weightless closeness they shared.

Tamsin was content to carry her love through the night, but her attention to flying faltered when she felt Bo’s hand unbuttoning her jeans. “Bo, what are you doing?” she asked, breath hitching as she felt the succubus’s questing fingers trace the hem of her underwear.

“Testing your concentration,” Bo chuckled, slipping her hand lower to tease Tamsin’s folds.

“B-Bo, I won’t be able to fly,” the Valkyrie gasped.

“Yes you will,” Bo assured her. “I trust you.” Tamsin didn’t have time to protest before the succubus’s fingers danced across her clit.

The Valkyrie moaned and gripped Bo tighter as the succubus drew delicate patterns on her sensitive bud, teasing and pressing until Tamsin was quivering under her touch. The wind carried the blonde’s whimpered keening to Bo’s ears, and the succubus smiled and pressed a kiss to Tamsin’s neck as she slid her fingers into the wet heat of her center. The Valkyrie’s moans doubled in pitch as Bo gently stroked within her. The succubus chanced a look at Tamsin’s face and something about that primal visage contorted in pleasure sent a surge of arousal to Bo’s own core. Adjusting the angle of her wrist, Bo slipped deeper within Tamsin until her fingertips brushed that sensitive skin that made the Valkyrie shiver in delight. The blonde had to fight not to buck her hips as Bo quickened her thrusts and rubbed her thumb in circles against her sensitive clit. It wasn’t long before the elation of flying and the feeling of Bo moving within her had Tamsin crying out her release to the stars, shuddering all the way to the tips of her wings.

Bo gently withdrew and redid the buttons on Tamsin’s jeans but not before tasting the remnants of the blonde’s climax on her fingers. The Valkyrie was still breathing heavily and when Bo wrapped her arms around the blonde’s neck and nestled against her chest, she could feel the rapid pounding of her heart. When Tamsin had regained her breath, she bent her head to whisper in the succubus’s ear.

“I love you, Bo,” she murmured, kissing her cheek again. The brunette felt the Valkyrie’s lips curve into a smile. “Now hold tight.”

Bo gasped and clung to Tamsin with arms and legs alike as one of the Valkyrie’s hands left her back to unbutton her pants. “Tamsin…”

“Turnabout, succubus,” the blonde purred, repeating her words from their morning together. “Now that we’ve established that I can concentrate through anything…” she trailed off as she slid her hand between Bo’s legs. The succubus could only groan as Tamsin began to tease her clit.

The Valkyrie was rougher than Bo, pressing hard against the tight bundle of nerves before lightly tugging and twisting in ways that had the brunette whimpering in pain-laced pleasure. The blonde was relentless in her assault, and when her fingers finally pressed into Bo’s core, the succubus was gripping the Valkyrie with bruising force as she gasped and moaned. Bo found that her hold on Tamsin allowed her the freedom to move her hips and she bucked against the blonde’s hand, sending her questing fingers deeper. Tamsin continued to thumb the brunette’s clit as she danced her fingertips against the deepest pleasure in her core, relishing the sound of Bo’s cries in her ears. The blonde pounded hard and fast into the succubus, feeling her walls begin to clench around her fingers. “I’ve got you, Bo,” she murmured in her ear. “Come for me.” And Bo did, soaring in Tamsin’s arms as they soared through the sky. The sense of both weightlessness and safety prolonged Bo’s climax until she was shuddering and gasping against Tamsin.

The Valkyrie waited until Bo was completely still before removing her hand, also lifting her fingers to taste the brunette’s release before redoing her pants. Bo sighed happily, once again snuggling into Tamsin’s embrace. There was content silence for a moment before Bo looked up at the blonde. “Does this count as joining the mile-high club?”

Tamsin’s laughter rang out into the night as she banked left and around, taking them back towards the city.

…

Tamsin landed them softly and gently back behind the Dal, letting Bo regain her footing before retracting her wings. The brunette would have staggered had she not still been clinging to the blonde. After taking a minute to get used to having the ground beneath her again, Bo pulled her Valkyrie into a fierce kiss.

“Thank you,” she murmured against her lips. “That was…I can’t even begin to describe it.” She deepened the kiss a moment before pulling away. “ _Tá grá agam duit_ , Tamsin.”

Starlight sparkled in Tamsin’s gaze as she smiled at Bo. “I love you, too, _mo laoch_.” She kissed her again, quickly but firmly. “Now, let’s go home. I’m not nearly done with you.”

Bo giggled, wrapping her arms around Tamsin’s waist. “I should hope not.”

And Tamsin wasn’t – not by far. Succubus and Valkyrie tumbled together again and again until the first rays of dawn crept across their exhausted forms, lulling them to sleep in each other’s embrace.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize if Kayleigh comes across as a bit of a Mary Sue in the beginning of the chapter. I kind of needed to in order to give Tamsin and Bo a hard time.

Their night-long escapades meant that Bo and Tamsin didn’t make it to the gym until eleven, having also forgotten that their “base of operations” had moved from the Dal. They had barely walked through the door before they were face to face with a smirking Kayleigh and Kenzi. “Why do I feel like we’re being double-teamed?” Tamsin asked Bo warily.

“Because you are,” Kenzi replied before grabbing Tamsin’s wrist and dragging her out of earshot to demand all the details, leaving Bo at Kayleigh’s mercy.

“So,” the empath drew out as she folded her arms across her chest. “The Unaligned Succubus has gone and gotten herself a bonded Valkyrie.”

“You knew about the bond all along, didn’t you?” Bo realized angrily.

“Uh-huh!” Kayleigh nodded with a grin. “I’m the one Tamsin sought out for answers when she Fell.”

“Tamsin told me your parents were married…they were bonded, too, weren’t they?”

“Now you’re getting it, succubus,” Kayleigh approved. Her grin became a leer. “So if your lateness is anything to go by, I’m guessing you and Tamsin enjoyed yourselves last night?”

A dreamy smile grew on Bo’s face. “Yeah, you could say that,” she sighed happily.

“Did she do that thing with her tongue for you?”

Bo’s flight down memory lane came to an abrupt crash-landing. “How did you…?”

“Oh, didn’t you know? Tamsin and I used to hook up all the time,” Kayleigh replied with a casual wave of her hand.

“But…you’re Light,” Bo protested, desperate for some sort of proof that it wasn’t true.

Kayleigh shrugged. “Well, yeah, but we were careful not to get caught. And even if we ever did, all I’d have to do was throw down my title and we would’ve been off the hook. Being Valkyrsdatter has its perks.”

“How long?” Bo’s whisper was more of a whimper.

“Oh, a good few years. It was like a regular weekend thing.”

Bo could only stare speechlessly at the empath. The empath stared back calmly, the silence growing thick and oppressive between them. Bo took a deep breath as she tried to figure out how to proceed with the conversation without absolutely losing it. Before she could make a decision, though, Kayleigh burst out laughing.

“Oh my _God_ , I can’t do it anymore! Your jealousy is just too strong!” she managed to gasp, doubled over in mirth as she was. “Yes, Tamsin and I used to hook up, but it was nothing serious, nor was it very often. It ended when I started dating Aislinn…twenty years ago.”

Bo let out a long, relieved sigh before punching Kayleigh lightly in the shoulder. “That was mean,” she groused.

“I couldn’t help it,” Kayleigh giggled. “It was too easy. And fun.”

“Well, I hope you enjoyed yourself twenty years ago, because now Tamsin can’t even _feel_ pleasure from anyone but _me_ ,” Bo smirked triumphantly.

“Yeah, but I can still feel pleasure from her,” Kayleigh noted. “We should all get together and try it some time.” She laughed when Bo punched her again before turning and marching over to where Tamsin was being intimidated and interrogated by Kenzi. “You are _mine_ ,” the succubus growled, wrapping her arm around the blonde’s waist.

Tamsin met her love’s gaze with confusion, but then her eyes widened. “Oh God, Kayleigh told you…” When Bo nodded, the Valkyrie blushed crimson before yelling to the empath, “Bitch, I am going to _kill_ you!” which only made Kayleigh laugh harder.

“Told you what? What did she tell you? What did I miss?” Kenzi demanded.

“Nothing that concerns you, short-stack,” Tamsin replied, ruffling the human’s hair. “Besides, I’ve told you more than enough already. Anything more and I’ll be getting into the ‘detailed details’ you said you didn’t want to hear about.”

“Right. Gotcha. You and Bo had bonded sexcapades.” The Russian girl stared at her best friend and daughter-figure until she was no longer able to contain her shriek of delight. “I’m _so happy_ for you!” she gushed as she wrapped the two of them in a tight hug.

“If you’re done suffocating them, we have shit that needs doing,” Kayleigh called.

Indeed, a combination of training and research was in full swing. Dyson and Hale were practicing their swordplay while Aislinn was sinking arrows into a straw target. Fíonn, Lauren, and Trick were well away from the combat practice, surrounded by a massive pile of books and a few scrolls. “Do you really need all of these?” Bo inquired as she, Tamsin, and Kenzi walked over, surveying the many volumes.

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Trick replied. “Very little of Irish Fae history has been consolidated; most of it is scattered throughout various other historical accounts, so we’ve been digging things up piece by piece.”

“What have you found so far?” Bo asked as she sat down, Kayleigh, Tamsin, and Kenzi doing the same.

“We managed to dig up the origin stories of the remaining three Treasures along with accounts of what they supposedly do,” Fíonn replied without looking up from the massive book in his lap. “The Spear and the Sword are straightforward enough, but the Cauldron is…different.”

The succubus frowned. “Meaning?”

“Well, _originally_ it was such that ‘no one left from it unsatisfied’ – in other words, it just gave you fine food and drink – but Lauren found something in the Dark Archives that claims otherwise.”

“I didn’t find the pages before because they weren’t stored with the other accounts of the battle,” Lauren explained. “I found them among the documents about Fae artifacts when I went looking for more on the Treasures.”

“Tell me you didn’t take the pages from the Dark Archives,” Tamsin implored with a wary, almost pleading look at the doctor. Lauren smirked and held up pages of her own handwritten notes and Tamsin sighed in relief. The doctor chuckled briefly before describing what she’d found.

“Unlike what we’ve experienced so far, the first battles during the original tearing of the veil involved ancient sídhe, but not Under-Fae. Not at first, anyway. The sídhe fighting the ancient sídhe began to notice that the Fae they felled were returning to the battlefield within a few days, but as Under-Fae. Something was reanimating them, but it didn’t bring them back to their complete selves – only their baser forms. A group of Dark sídhe infiltrated the Otherworld through one of the tears in the veil to find out what was happening.”

“They went _through_ the veil?! _Willingly_?!” Kenzi exclaimed.

Lauren shrugged. “They had to find out somehow, and find out they did. The Dark sídhe saw bodies being thrown into Dagda’s Cauldron and climbing back out as Under-Fae. They took the knowledge back to the Morrigan at the time – also a sídhe – and he did further research on the magic behind the Cauldron. The Dark had planned to seize the Cauldron to make use of its power, but the veil was resealed with Lia Fáil before they could make an attempt.”

“Did anything come of the research? Say, how to destroy the Cauldron?” Bo inquired hopefully.

“Yes, actually,” Fíonn replied. “The Morrigan never uncovered the full scope of magic accounting for the Cauldron’s new power, but he calculated that the way to destroy it was for a living Fae – preferably a sídhe – to throw themselves in willingly. Easy enough, except for the fact that the Fae who does it is destroyed along with the Cauldron.”

“Great. So if we end up fighting an army of ancient Fae, we’ll end up fighting them twice,” Tamsin groused.

“We’re putting you in the front,” Kayleigh decided, and Tamsin smacked her upside the head.

“So what about the Sword and the Spear?” Bo prodded.

“Well, apparently no one escaped Nuada’s Sword once the wielder drew it from its sheath,” Fíonn began, “and ‘no battle was sustained’ against Lugh’s Spear or the man who held it, which I guess means that battles against the Spear and warrior were very short-lived. Some accounts claim that it also shoots lightning,” the gancanagh added with no small amount of fascination.

“That would be fantastic, if we had any idea where it was,” Tamsin noted dryly.

“Wherever it is, best to leave it there,” Trick said with finality. “We need to try to solve this _without_ the use of the Spear or the possibility of destroying it.” He looked to Fíonn. “Remember what I said about not wanting two Treasures in the Otherworld and none in ours.”

“But wouldn’t that solve all this?” Bo frowned. “You and Fíonn once said that it was the separation of the Treasures that caused the imbalance and the tears in the veil – that the Treasures called to each other. Wouldn’t it be better to have the remaining Treasures on one side or the other?”

“Great idea, except for the fact that whichever side holds all the Treasures also holds dominion over the veil,” Fíonn pointed out. “That’s why the Treasures were split in the first place. The sídhe only realized that the connection between the Treasures could tear the veil was when it, well, tore the veil.”

“I have a headache,” Kenzi groaned, rubbing her temples.

“Except that you _do_ realize there’s only one other way to solve this without using the Treasures, right?” Kayleigh raised her hand.

“Yes, I do…” Trick ground out through gritted teeth, not looking at the empath.

“What, what way?” Bo looked between Trick and Kayleigh with confusion.

The empath sighed. “The only other way to solve this would be to take the battle to the Otherworld: to attack the ancient sídhe directly and possibly recover the remaining two Treasures.”

“And kill Dagda…” Bo murmured to herself. “It’s the only way I could kill Dagda without risking the destruction of the veil.”

“Dagda? What does he have to do with this?” Fíonn asked, startled.

Bo looked around at the assembled group with resignation. Tamsin laid a calming hand on her shoulder as the succubus took a shuddering breath. “I talked to Aífe and…Dagda’s the Wanderer. He’s the one who pulled me onto the Death Train. He’s the one responsible for all of this.”

The stunned silence was punctuated only by the clang of steel and the thud of arrows into the target from the three still blissfully unaware Fae. “Well, _that_ …certainly complicates things…” Fíonn commented, his voice an octave higher than usual.

“It’s impossible,” Kayleigh declared in breathless disbelief. “There’s no way you can kill one of the Tuatha. There’s no way we as a _group_ could kill one of the Tuatha. We have to use the Treasures.”

“Thanks for that vote of confidence,” Bo replied with sarcastic venom.

 _“No,”_ Trick emphasized again. “We are _not_ using the Treasures. We’ll find another way to close the veil.”

“I wouldn’t object to using the Cauldron if it means it gets destroyed in the process the way Lia Fáil did,” Fíonn spoke up.

“I don’t think that would work,” Lauren noted reluctantly. “Maybe before it gained its new power, but not now.”

“But if we _do_ take this battle to the Otherworld, we won’t be alone,” it was Bo’s turn to emphasize. “We’ll have the sídhe behind us – sídhe both Light and Dark. This matters to them, too.”

“Ok, so say we somehow _do_ manage to defeat Dagda,” Kayleigh ceded. “ _Then_ what? We still have to close the veil.”

“We enlist the help of the one remaining Tuatha still living,” Bo decided, recalling the family tree she had pored over.

“And that would be?” Fíonn prompted.

“Mór Ríoghan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glossary:  
> [Cauldron of Dagda](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Treasures_of_the_Tuatha_D%C3%A9_Danann): "No company ever went away from it unsatisfied," so it most likely provided lots of food and drink (or just lots of drink). Its new properties are reverently and lovingly borrowed from Lloyd Alexander's _The Black Cauldron_ and T.A. Barron's _The Lost Years of Merlin_.  
> [Nuada's Sword](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cla%C3%ADomh_Solais): Also called Claíomh Solais (pronounced "kleev solesh"), meaning "Sword of Light" or "Shining Sword." No one escaped it and no one could resist it. The term Claíomh Solais is also sometimes used to refer to other swords in Irish folklore, apparently.  
> [Lugh's Spear](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugh#Lugh.27s_Spear): "Impossible to overcome." It doesn't actually shoot lightning. I made that up.


	20. Chapter Twenty

The stunned silence following Bo’s pronouncement soon devolved into cacophony.

“You’re insane!”

“Are you fucking _kidding_ me?!”

“That’s impossible!”

“No way. Absolutely no way!”

“All right, all _right_!” Bo relented, shouting to be heard and drawing the brief attention of the combatants. “It was just an idea.”

“It’s not a _bad_ idea; it’s just not _plausible_ ,” Tamsin analyzed.

“Ex-fucking-cuse me, do you not remember the scald crow that paid us a visit right before the Under-Fae attacked?!” Kenzi asked incredulously.

“Yes, but I was also the one who noted that the scald crows warnings weren’t _against_ Mór Ríoghan, though still from her,” Tamsin replied, trying to be patient.

“Oh, this’ll be easy then – we’ll just jot out a little note and pass it to the next scald crow we see,” Kayleigh drawled sarcastically. “I’m _sure_ the sídhe goddess of the battlefield will pay attention. How again do we know that this is Dagda’s doing and not hers?”

“Again with the scald crows!” Tamsin protested.

“What, do you speak crow or something that you know their intentions?” Kayleigh shot back.

“E- _nough_ ,” Bo interrupted before it could come to blows. “It was just an idea, ok? Just drop it.”

“Well…” Trick began. The empath gaped at him.

“You can’t _seriously_ be considering this!”

“Not with _complete_ seriousness, no. But at this point I’m open to _any_ ideas.”

Kayleigh let out an exasperated sigh and buried her face in her hands. “Fine. Whatever. Throw a Hail Mary pass at the apocalypse. See if I care.”

“So then, that’s three possibilities now,” Fíonn clapped his hands, speaking with false optimism in an attempt to ease the tension. “We find the Spear and use it, we take the battle to the Otherworld to find the Sword and Cauldron, or we contact one of the last two living Tuatha.” Hearing the impossibility of each spoken aloud made everybody in the circle wilt.

“Look, we still haven’t made our way through all these books yet,” Lauren noted. “We’ll break for lunch and then keep looking. Maybe we’ll find a better solution.”

“Lunch? Already?” Bo asked, surprised.

“Yeah, Bo-Bo, lunch, ‘cause some of us got here on time…” Kenzi teased with a smirk. Bo gave her a shove before standing up along with the others.

The group dispersed to stretch and grab their jackets. Bo was about to get her purse when Kenzi elbowed her in the side. “Don’t look now, but Wolfy’s coming in for the kill.”

_“Shit,”_ Bo muttered under her breath when she looked up and found that Dyson was indeed approaching her with an imploring look on his face. She turned to Kenzi only to find that her best friend had retreated to Tamsin’s side across the room. “Thanks a lot, ‘bestie,’” the succubus grumbled, decidedly not looking at Dyson when he reached her side.

“Bo, can we – ”

“Not now, Dyson.”

“But Bo, I – ”

“No.”

“Bo, wait – ” Dyson pleaded, grabbing her arm.

Bo spun around and was about to lay into Dyson for putting a hand on her, but suddenly the shifter was pinned to the wall by his neck. The hand around his throat belonged to Tamsin, her now-skeletal face contorted with fury. Brilliant white wings burst from her back and curved around so the tips of her feathers threatened to slice into the shifter in her grasp. And she would have – would have torn him to pieces with her wings and bare hands except –

“Tamsin,” Bo murmured, running a soothing hand along the top of her right wing. As the Valkyrie had calmed Bo’s rage before, so the succubus was calming Tamsin’s now.

Tamsin held Dyson in place for another moment before letting him crumple to the floor. “Don’t you _ever_ touch her again,” she threatened with a growl. Message made clear, the Valkyrie retracted her wings and let the darkness fade from her face. She put her arm around Bo’s waist and turned them both away from the defeated shifter to face the rest of the group, frozen and gaping in shock as they watched the tableau play out before them.

“ _Damn_ , Bo,” Kayleigh finally broke the silence. “What is it with your exes being thrown against the wall?”

“Karma, for dating her,” Lauren replied, struggling to suppress a grin despite being one of said exes.

“Oh, it’s not just her exes,” Tamsin leered. “Though in my case it was because – ”

_“Tamsin,”_ Bo cut her off with a hiss, an embarrassed blush spreading across her face.

Despite the clarity of the implications, despite the fact that it involved the woman she once loved now loving another, Lauren couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

The walk to lunch eased the tension the Valkyrie’s show of protection had caused, though that was mostly due to the fact that Trick, Dyson, and Hale remained behind. The group laughed and chatted and pretended that all was right with the world. Tamsin laced her fingers with Bo’s as they walked, both women sharing easy smiles between them.

None noticed the scald crow observing them from the roof of the gym.

…

The afternoon progressed much the same as the morning had, though Kenzi, Kayleigh, and even Lauren abandoned grumbling over research in favor of combat practice. The human held Geraldine and was squaring off against Kayleigh, who was teaching her basic blocks and counterattacks. Dyson was taking out his angry shame on Hale via hand-to-hand combat and Aislinn was teaching Lauren how to use a crossbow, which the human was improving with quite quickly. Bo, Tamsin, Trick, and Fíonn remained immersed in the books, though Tamsin suspected that Bo wasn’t reading so much as flicking pages back and forth.

Tamsin, for her part, was flipping through one of the modern books Fíonn had brought. According to Aislinn, the gancanagh had raided both his shelf and hers for everything on Irish folklore they had. The blonde empath didn’t put much stock in the more recent publications, but Fíonn had a soft spot for the book _Legendary Ireland_ , by Eithne Massey. So Tamsin had picked it up on a whim.

The Valkyrie turned the page to find herself staring at the Celtic wheel of the year that marked the equinoxes, solstices, and four seasonal festivals. She grimly traced the words “Samhain – 31 October,” reminded of how little time left they had to solve this whole debacle. Briefly scanning the text, she glanced over to the next page and the poem that ended the introduction. She was about to turn the page again when three words above the poem caught her attention: “invocation of Ireland.”

Tamsin read through the text above the poem, an idea forming in her mind as dread formed in the pit of her stomach. The verse was written by an ancient poet so as to ‘quiet the waves’ that prevented the Sons of Míl – early people of Ireland – from reaching the country’s shores. The poem itself spoke of Ireland as well as the kings of Tara and Sons of Míl themselves, calling out to every facet of the country the poet could think to name.

Fíonn had said the day they met that the copper medal he wore was supposed to be able to locate the Treasures, but only if the right words were spoken. It was a long, _long_ shot, to be sure, but Tamsin felt that an ancient invocation of Treasures’ homeland was certainly a fair candidate for “the right words.”

“Hey, Fíonn, do me a favor?” Tamsin asked.

“Anything for you, fair Valkyrie. Not flirting,” he added before Bo could say anything. The succubus just smirked without looking up from her book, knowing that Fíonn was unaware of the bond she shared with Tamsin.

“Are you wearing your dad’s medal?” the blonde continued.

The gancanagh frowned. “I never take it off, why?”

Tamsin passed him the copy of _Legendary Ireland_. “I want you to read out that poem in Irish while holding onto the medal.”

Fíonn gave her a doubtful, questioning look, but shrugged his assent. Pulling the medal from under his shirt, the gancanagh grasped the copper disk and began to read out the ancient invocation, mentally translating the English text to Irish.

_“I invoke the_ _land_ _of_ _Ireland_ _:_  
_Much-coursed be the fertile sea,_  
_Fertile be the fruit-strewn mountain,_  
_Fruit-strewn be the showery wood,_  
_Showery be the river of waterfalls,_  
_Of waterfalls be the lake of deep pools,_  
_Deep-pooled be the hill-top well,_  
_A well of tribes be the assembly,_  
_An assembly of kings be_ _Tara_ _,_  
_Tara be the hill of the tribes,_  
_The tribes be the sons of Míl,  
_ _Of Míl, the ships, the barks,_

_Let the lofty bark be_ _Ireland_ _,_  
_Lofty_ _Ireland_ _, darkly sung…  
_ _I invoke the_ _land_ _of_ _Ireland_ _.”_

Fíonn gave a little yelp and jumped to his feet, releasing his hold on the pendant. His reaction caught everyone’s attention, and eyes widened to see that the triple-spiral was glowing white. Moving as if pulled on a string, Fíonn stepped around the books and towards the pile of weaponry, still staring at the medal on his chest in bemusement. His stumbling footsteps brought him to a halt before Trick’s quarterstaff, and the Blood King paled, also leaping to his feet. “No, don’t – !” But it was too late. Fíonn reached out and wrapped his hand around the staff.

There was a flash of light around both medal and staff before the spiral ceased to glow. Fíonn no longer held a staff, but a spear. On the widest stretch of each side of the blade, just above the shaft, the triple-spiral was engraved in gold.

Once more, stunned silence reigned, but this time it devolved into absolute uproar. Weapons were dropped as everyone leapt to their feet and advanced on the Blood King with furious accusations and demands for explanations. The advance was only halted by Bo and Tamsin jumping in front of Trick with their own weapons drawn.

“Stop!” Bo commanded. “Just stop!” She leveled her dagger at the approaching group and they reluctantly obeyed, though accusatory rage still burned in all their gazes.

“Thank you,” Trick began, but he was cut off when Bo swung around to aim her blade at him.

“You promised me no more secrets!” she accused with her own barely-contained fury. “You promised me! And now _this_?!”

“I swore a blood oath!” Trick protested with a shout, holding up his hands in surrender. “I was bound to secrecy upon pain of death! The oath would have killed me had I told you!”

“So you didn’t just know where it was, you actually _had_ it this whole time,” Kayleigh realized.

“You _knew_?!” Bo spun on Kayleigh, dagger aimed at her.

“I _guessed_ ,” the empath replied, her turn to hold up her hands. “Aislinn and I felt his reaction to the mention of the Spear that day in the Dal when Fíonn first told the story of the battle and the Treasures.”

“This is why you didn’t want us to use one of the Treasures,” Fíonn inferred. “The Spear was right here the whole time and using it would have meant revealing it.”

“Which would have killed me,” Trick finished. “The purpose of the blood oath was so that the Treasure could _never be used_ – hidden in plain sight from the rest of the world.”

“If the Spear came to be in your possession, you must know more about the first tearing of the veil than you’re letting on,” Tamsin commented, though it was more of a suspicious demand.

“No, I don’t,” Trick insisted firmly. “The Spear came into my possession upon the death of its first caretaker. I swore the oath on her deathbed to protect it with my life and never tell a soul.”

“She broke her own oath to pass on guardianship of the Spear?” Aislinn asked, startled.

“She was already dying, and it needed to be done,” Trick replied. “And it’s worked, until now, now that it needs to be protected more than ever,” he finished angrily.

Bo was about to retort when Fíonn and Trick doubled over gasping, hands over their chests. “What, what is it?” Aislinn asked, moving quickly to her brother’s side.

“It’s the veil,” Fíonn gasped hoarsely. He looked up at Bo. “Remember how we explained yesterday that sídhe are tied to it – that we can feel when it changes? Well, it just changed. A _lot_.”

“Now that the Spear has been revealed, I’m guessing it’s calling to the Treasures in the Otherworld, and those Treasures are answering,” Trick stated grimly. “We need to act _now_.”

“We still haven’t figured out which crazy plan to use!” Kenzi protested.

“All of them,” Bo decided. “We use all of them. Now that we know how to locate the Treasures, we take the battle to the Otherworld, find them, and put and end to all this, even if it means destroying all the Treasures and giving neither side dominion over the veil.”

“Any other sídhe would accuse you of sacrilege right now, but I’m for it,” Fíonn agreed.

“And what about Mór Ríoghan? And Dagda?” Lauren protested.

“We’ll burn those bridges when we get there,” Tamsin answered with a decisive but resigned sigh.

“We need to get everyone together as quickly as possible – contact the Morrigan and all the other sídhe, Light and Dark,” Trick all but commanded. He reached over and took the Spear from Fíonn, who surrendered the weapon with much relief.

“Bigger question – where are we going to cross over?” Kayleigh asked. “I mean, we’ll be going through one of the tears, obviously, but where do we access one?”

“Best guess? The Dal, for the same reason we left it,” Fíonn replied, and Trick nodded in affirmation.

“Right. It’s settled. Now grab your weapons and let’s _move_ ,” Tamsin ordered, going into battle commander mode. Everyone obeyed without hesitation. Lauren picked up her cell phone along with her crossbow so she could alert the Morrigan, though the leanan sídhe had probably already felt the disturbance herself.

Already armed, Bo and Tamsin stood still amidst the chaos, gazing at each other with worried but determined expressions.

“This is it, _mo laoch_ ,” the Valkyrie murmured, switching her sword to her left hand so she could lace her fingers with Bo’s again. “Are you ready?”

Bo smiled, squeezing Tamsin’s hand. “I’m bonded to the strongest, fiercest Valkyrie ever to have lived. I’m ready, _mo ghrá_.”

Tamsin’s responding smile was only half so. “That’s not what I meant, Bo. Are you ready to face Dagda? Are you ready to meet your father?”

Bo’s smile faded and she took a deep, shuddering breath. “Will you be there with me?”

“Always. You know that.”

“Then I’m ready for anything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The exact citations for the wheel of the year and the poem are pages 14 and 15 of Eithne Massey's _[Legendary Ireland](http://www.obrien.ie/legendary-ireland)_ , the book I've mentioned and been referring back to for most of the writing of this story. The poem can be found online as can various, extremely complicated pictures of the Celtic wheel of the year. "Eithne" is pronounced "Enya," like the singer (fun fact: the singer apparently changed the spelling so people would pronounce it correctly).


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I noticed that I made an Irish pronunciation error waaaay back in Chapter Nine. When Bo calls Trick "sheanathair" it's actually pronounced "hanahar" - the "s" is silent. Sorry about that. I wrote this chapter to my go-to final battle song: ["Heart of Courage,"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYKUeZQbMF0) by Two Steps From Hell.

Bo and Tamsin stopped back at Tamsin’s place before heading to the Dal, though the Valkyrie wouldn’t say why. The blonde burst through the door and took the stairs two at a time, Bo hot on her heels, scrambling to keep up. The succubus stood back and observed as Tamsin hurried to her nightstand and opened the drawer. Pressing down in the back to reveal the false bottom, she pulled out an old-fashioned key and moved to the cabinet in the corner. When she unlocked and threw open the doors, Bo gasped at the sight of what was inside.

In the cabinet sat a suit of armor, well-worn but well-kept. The body was a sleeveless scale tunic with plate pauldrons. To the left of the tunic lay a pair of plate bracers while a calf-length pair of plate boots sat to the right. Folded atop the boots was what appeared to be studded leather pants, flexible but sturdy. Bo watched as Tamsin stripped down to her underwear and tank top before sliding into the pants, boots, and tunic with practiced ease. The armor, ending midway down her thighs, was perfectly molded to Tamsin’s form, as if it had been made for her. It probably had been, Bo realized – forged millennia ago in Tamsin’s first life and worn through thousands of battles.

The Valkyrie snapped on and tightened the bracers before picking her sword belt up from the floor and replacing it around her waist, checking to make sure her sword was loose in its scabbard. “Do you have everything you need?” she asked, looking up at Bo. The succubus said nothing, continuing to gape at Tamsin. “Bo?”

“Has anyone told you that you look _really_ sexy in armor?”

Tamsin smirked. “Maybe once or twice.” Her smile faded. “Seriously, Bo, make sure you have everything you need.” She sighed. “I wish I had armor for you, too.”

Having been prepared for combat training, Bo was decked out in her usual black, wearing flexible jeans and a tight tank covered by a leather jacket. Her boots were the most practical pair she owned and the lack of heels meant she stood nearly a head shorter than her Valkyrie. The succubus’s dagger was secure in its sheath, strapped to the outside of her thigh. “I’ll be fine, Tamsin. I can handle myself. And we’ll be together, remember?”

“Yeah, I know.” Tamsin pulled Bo into a rough embrace, holding her as tightly as she could with her armor in the way. _“Tá grá agam duit, mo laoch,”_ she murmured in her ear.

“I love you, too, Tamsin,” Bo returned, kissing her soundly. “Now, let’s go close the veil.”

…

There were too many Fae gathered at the Dal for everyone to fit inside, so the Light and Dark sídhe – over two hundred in all – were gathered outside the building, both in the back alley and around the front. The Morrigan was addressing the Dark sídhe while Trick spoke to the Light, each outlining what was happening and what needed to be done. Various sídhe from both sides would glance at each other every so often with expressions of slight mistrust but grudging acceptance. But when Fíonn handed Trick the Spear, the sight of the Treasure seemed to create a sort of astounded solidarity among the Fae, the true gravity of the situation slowly sinking in.

“Will this be enough?” Bo asked Tamsin as the two surveyed the crowd.

“It’ll have to be,” Tamsin replied grimly. She was thankful to see that the assemblage was armed – some with swords and shields, others with bows or crossbows. Even Lauren carried a crossbow while Kenzi held Geraldine in a white-knuckled grip. Both humans looked like they were about to be sick.

“Darling! You’re here!”

Bo gave a start, spinning to find Aífe smiling brightly at her. “Mom? But…your leg…”

“When I felt the change and heard that we were taking the battle to _him_ , I fed off one of one of the orderlies to finish healing up.” Bo and Tamsin knew by the way she said “him” that the older succubus was referring to Dagda. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world, baby girl. I have to help you kill him, after all.” She patted the wicked looking sword at her side and her grin became slightly feral. “He is going to _pay_ for what he did to us.” Bo gulped at the vehemence behind her words, but Aífe’s driven anger made Tamsin feel a little better. She wouldn’t be the only person fighting tooth and nail to keep Bo safe.

“I’m glad you’re here, Mom,” Bo admitted. “I mean, I’m not…I don’t like that we’re going into battle, but…I’m glad you’re here.” Aífe wrapped her daughter in a fierce but tender embrace and Tamsin smiled despite herself.

“Good, you’re here,” Fíonn said, jogging up to the group. He had a long knife strapped to each side of his waist.

“What’s the plan?” Tamsin asked.

“The main group is going to take on the inevitable army while a smaller contingent hunts down the Treasures, starting with the Cauldron, we hope.” The gancanangh explained. “Trick will be leading our forces with the Spear, which we hope will draw attention away from the group going after the Cauldron.” Aífe bristled at the mention of Trick’s name, but said nothing.

“Let me guess – we’re in the group going after the Cauldron,” Tamsin sighed.

Fíonn nodded. “Since I have the medal and I’ve memorized the incantation I’ll be in the lead but I’m _definitely_ gonna need your firepower at my back.”

“In that case, I’m going, too,” Bo interjected.

“I figured you would,” Fíonn nodded. “There’s going to be a secondary group trailing behind us in case we need a diversion. That’ll be made up of Dyson, Hale, Lauren, Aislinn, and Kayleigh.”

“Lauren?” Bo asked, surprised.

“Turns out she’s _deadly_ with a crossbow,” Fíonn explained. “She and Aislinn will be providing cover fire should we end up in combat.”

“And Kenzi is willingly staying behind?”

“Not willingly, no, but she’ll be safer with Trick.” The gancanagh shrugged. “That’s about it so far. We haven’t figured out how to deal with the Sword and Dagda yet.”

“If you don’t mind, I think I’ll join your little infiltration group,” Aífe purred. “I’m loathe to leave Bo’s side and I have a score to settle with Dagda.”

“So I hear,” Fíonn noted with an arched eyebrow.

“How are we even getting to the Otherworld in the first place?” Bo inquired.

“Same way we found the Spear,” Fíonn replied. “Trick’s going to recite the incantation while holding the Treasure, which should call forth the nearest tear in the veil. We hope.”

There was a sudden flurry of movement, every sídhe tensing as they drew their weapons in preparation. “Here we go,” Fíonn muttered, taking a deep breath and letting it out in a rush.

Bo tried to stay steady, but her hands had begun to shake. She had known it would come down to this, but knowing something and actually facing it were two different things entirely. Her breathing became shallow as she fought back panic, but then slim fingers entwined with hers and the succubus immediately calmed. She looked up into the gaze of her Valkyrie, crystalline blue-green eyes meeting deep brown. She gave Bo’s hand a squeeze of encouragement, and Bo returned one of thanks before both turned back to watch events unfold.

Trick, standing on a platform above the rest of the gathered Fae, held Lugh’s Spear aloft and recited the words of the invocation with ringing clarity. There was a moment of withdrawn breath after he finished, then a cracking, tearing sound rent the air and everyone took a step back as the space in the back alley split before them. Even from a distance Bo could see that the edges of the portal fluttered like tatters of fabric around the entrance to the Otherworld, dark and beckoning.

There were no battle cries. There were no words of encouragement. There was only solemnity as the sídhe stepped through the veil to make their last stand.


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was also written to "Heart of Courage." Also, a little digging led me to discover that the authors of my childhood favorite novels featuring necromantic cauldrons actually took _their_ inspiration from mythology. According to Wikipedia, the [Second Branch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Branches_of_the_Mabinogi#Second_Branch:_Branwen.2C_Daughter_of_Ll.C5.B7r) of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi (the "earliest prose literature in Britain," "originally written in Wales in Middle Welsh") includes a magic cauldron used to bring the dead back to life, though those revived would not be able to speak. Best of all, the cauldron originated from...drumroll please...Ireland.

Bo had imagined the Otherworld as a sort of haunted forest of blackened, shriveled trees entwined with choking mist. Instead, it was more of a barren countryside, though a strand of trees did rise up in the distance beyond the edge of a hill. The grass was a mix of green and brown, dried and withered beneath her feet. The trees, too, looked withered even from a distance, bent as if under a terrible weight. Burnt orange and rust-red clouds roiled above them, lightning jumping from swell to swell in sickening crackles and rumbles. It looked to be a landscape time had left to die, too busy with other things to pay attention to the bleak world that surrounded the succubus and sídhe.

The Fae didn’t hesitate to take up their battle positions, Light mingling with Dark as they readied for the inevitable fight soon to come. Those with tower shields lined the army of sídhe in front, forming a sort of Greek phalanx-like wall. Those with smaller shields were split into two groups: one staggered behind the first shield line so anything that somehow slipped between the gaps would go no further; the other shield-bearers stood in front of the archers in the back. While the other Fae could lift up swords or shields as a modicum of protection against a volley of bolts and arrows, the sídhe that could return fire had no such protection.

The ranged fighters in the back stood with the crossbowmen in front and the archers behind, those with longbows taking the flanks for longer-ranged shots. The melee warriors stood in front of the shield-bearers protecting the ranged fighters, and in front of them, the sídhe with battle-ready powers. Gancanaghs stood ready to release their smoke while banshees prepared to keen their death song, though it meant they would have to move up before the phalanx so as not to harm their comrades.  All were prepared to fall back to the protection of the melee fighters should the combat grow too close. Bo and her companions stood on the fringe of the melee warriors, knowing that they could not break off from the main force until the battle began if they did not want to draw attention to themselves.

Trick stood behind the second line of shield-bearers, the Spear of Lugh standing like a beacon above the warriors, blade glinting in the unnatural light of the Otherworld. The Morrigan stood by his side, her two-handed sword held in high guard. On the Blood King’s command, the assemblage of sídhe began to march.

They had just reached the crest of the hill when the rustling in the trees began. The army stopped, tensing and listening. It wasn’t long before the unmistakable growls of Under-Fae reached their ears and the cause of the noise emerged from the forest only moments later. Dobhar-chú lumbered forward followed by the twisting, shambling forms of the ancient sídhe.  Upon seeing the army from the world above, the Under-Fae roared their challenge, lifting their swords in the air and encouraging each other forward.

The shield-bearers in the front line slipped apart just enough to let the banshees through and the women grasped each other’s hands to form a chain. Seeing this and unaware of their nature, the Under-Fae let out gurgling chuckles as they hastened their advance. They were twenty meters away when the banshees began to keen.

Bo winced and clapped her hands over her ears as the wailing cry echoed around the clearing. A disharmonic cacophony of shrieks rippled out in shockwaves that slammed into the Under-Fae with brutal force. Several were blown off their feet, writhing in agony as they tried to escape the death song. White blood poured from the ears and noses of the dobhar-chú as the creatures fell, their bodies contorting before twitching one last time. Just when Bo thought her own ears would begin to bleed, the banshees ceased, retreating behind the phalanx. The shield-bearers closed rank after them, once again creating their impenetrable wall.

The Morrigan raised her closed fist and the ranged fighters lifted their weapons, tilting them upwards so their shots would clear the assemblage. Evony threw her hand forward in the command to fire and the archers and crossbowmen loosed their bolts into the air. The deadly projectiles formed a perfect arc before raining down into the horde of Under-Fae, felling many of them. The Morrigan commanded several more attacks, all of which proved to be devastating to the rear line of the ancient sídhe army. But the rest were too close for the archers to reach without risking their comrades, and so sídhe in the phalanx braced themselves as the Under-Fae began to charge.

Gancanagh smoke billowed from behind the shield-bearers as the first line of ancient sídhe rebounded against the phalanx, many of them dazed either by impact or magic. The shield-bearers used the advantage to strike, pushing the Under-Fae back and driving their blades home. Now the battle cries rang out in the air as the sídhe pressed forward, both armies clashing in brutal melee. Steel met steel and finesse met force as sídhe fought the ancient past for the cause of the future.

Battle underway, Trick fell back to where the infiltration group remained by the archers. “Go!” he commanded. “We’ll hold them off here! You find the Cauldron!”

Fíonn nodded and began to lead the group away. Bo pulled her grandfather into a fierce hug before turning to follow but was stopped by Kenzi’s arms around her waist. “Get your ass back to me, Bo,” the human ordered.

“I promise, Kenz,” Bo murmured, returning her embrace.

“And you,” Kenzi continued, punching Tamsin in the arm. “You keep her safe and keep yourself safe, you hear?”

“You bet, momz,” Tamsin replied with a reassuring smile, kissing Kenzi’s forehead. Fighting back tears, the Russian girl gave them both a shove before turning back to the archers.

Tamsin fell back and took position behind Aífe but before they could follow Fíonn, the succubus surprised her by turning and wrapping her arms around her father as Bo had. When she pulled away, Trick was staring at her in shock.

“I forgive you, Daddy,” Aífe told him with a smile as she gripped his shoulders. “I forgave you a long time ago.” With one last embrace, Aífe turned and followed the others. Trick took a moment to stare after her with utter confusion before shaking it off and returning to battle.

Tamsin watched Aífe grimly as she took the rear of the group, the succubus’s actions confirming what she’d known from the start.

…

Leaving the battlefield involved a very tense crawl so as not to attract attention from the skirmishing Under-Fae. When they were far enough away that they could only just hear the sounds of the fighting, the group rose to a crouch and Fíonn held his medallion while reciting the incantation. The triple-spiral began to glow and the gancanagh turned until he was facing the direction it pulled him. “Thank God; it’s the same way we’ve been going,” he sighed before beckoning the others to follow him. All complied, but Tamsin grabbed Aífe’s arm and pulled her back out of earshot of the others.

“It doesn’t have to be you, you know,” the Valkyrie murmured as the two moved forward side by side.

Aífe gave her a rueful smile. “I should’ve known you would figure it out. You of all the Fae see battles as they are.”

“I also know that we could find another way.”

The succubus scoffed. “You know as well as I do that there is no other way. And I’m just so very tired,” she sighed. “You understand, don’t you?” Aífe continued with an imploring look at the Valkyrie. “You understand what it means to endure centuries of pain?”

“I do – millennia, in fact,” Tamsin agreed. “But I’ve also found someone who takes that pain away.”

Aífe smiled – a fond, genuine smile. “Yes, she takes mine away, too. But even that’s not enough. The things he did to me…you can’t even begin to imagine.”

“That’s just it – I _can_ ,” Tamsin replied grimly. “You said that I see battles as they are. Well, I see what comes after, too. And so I do understand. I don’t like it…but I understand.”

The succubus’s smile was of content sadness this time. “Take care of my baby girl, won’t you?”

Tamsin put her right fist over her heart and bowed as best she could as they continued forward, echoing her promise to Aífe when they’d first met. “With everything I am and all I have to give.”

Aífe’s smile widened. “I knew when I met you that my girl made the right choice in taking you as a lover.”

Tamsin bit her lip, momentarily unsure, but decided that the succubus deserved to know, especially now. “You should know…Bo’s not just my lover. She’s my bondmate.”

It took Aífe a moment to understand, but when she did, the look of joy on her face nearly blinded the Valkyrie. “That’s my girl.”

…

The group heard the growls and smelled the bodies before they saw the Cauldron itself. Dropping to the ground once again, they wormed their way forwards until they were peering over the edge of a grassy ridge. There was a short drop below them into a small, barren clearing, behind which was another clump of trees. One look at the Cauldron made everyone shudder in revulsion.

Though it might once have been a thing of beauty, its very presence now radiated sickening hatred. Made of what looked to be copper, the rim of the Cauldron sagged, the metal warped and blackened. It was about waist-high, just wide and deep enough for a body. The triple-spiral was gouged black into the side, twisted and deformed. But it was the pile of bodies that horrified the group most – that and the two Under-Fae on each side of the Cauldron throwing the corpses into the coppery abyss to climb out of swirling smoke moments later in merely a semblance of life.

“Those bodies…” Lauren whispered. “They’re not Under-Fae. They just look like Fae.” She glanced over at Fíonn. “I thought all the ancient sídhe in the Otherworld were Under-Fae.”

“Not all,” Aislinn answered. “You found the information yourself: that ancient sídhe felled in battle returned as Under-Fae. Not all denizens of the Otherworld are as twisted as this Cauldron makes them.”

“These sídhe, then…they must have been killed specifically to feed the Cauldron,” Dyson realized.

“Slaughtered like animals,” Kayleigh agreed.

“Ok, so _now_ what?” Bo hissed.

“There are…” Fíonn took a moment to count, “nine of us and about…” he glanced over the rim and counted some more, “seven of them currently – no, eight, one just got out of the Cauldron – and about four more bodies in the pile. If we attack now, we should be able to take them out. Then we’ll split again – some of us to keep an eye on the Cauldron, the rest of us to look for the Sword.”

Aislinn and Lauren had already loaded their bow and crossbow. “Let us fire as many shots as we can, first,” Aislinn requested. “We may not have any openings once the fight really gets underway.”

“Better hurry; there are nine of them now,” Hale noticed.

Lauren took a deep breath. “For the Fae.”

“For the Fae,” Aislinn agreed. Then the two popped up and fired.

The blonde women managed to take out three Under-Fae before the rest got close enough to attack. The rest of the group leapt over the ridge and into the clearing to form a defensive semi-circle against the oncoming sídhe. Seeing that they were under attack, the Under-Fae by the Cauldron began to work faster, dragging revived sídhe from the smoke so they could throw another body in immediately. The Under-Fae on the left side dropped, clutching at the crossbow bolt in his neck, and the remaining sídhe screamed in rage before working even harder.

Dyson was mid-shift, roaring as he clawed at the two sídhe attacking him and sending sprays of white blood around the clearing. Hale had tried his siren song on the Under-Fae coming after him but they had shaken it off, forcing him to draw his sword. All of the sídhe were men, so Fíonn’s smoke was useless, the gancanagh fending off his attackers with his knives instead. The fighting was too tight for Tamsin to extend her wings, but she defended herself with ease, beheading one of her attackers with a single sweep of her blade.

But it wasn’t quite enough. The remaining Under-Fae at the Cauldron had finished with his pile of bodies and the group of defenders was close to being overrun. Kayleigh was knocked off her feet and only a quick arrow from Aislinn saved her from being impaled. Dyson had taken a fair few slices across his arms and chest and Hale leapt to aid him as a sídhe nearly sliced his throat. Bo was holding her own well enough, her dagger leaving deep wounds and weakening the Under-Fae enough for Tamsin to slay. She had just kicked away the body of a sídhe she had stabbed through the heart when her mother grabbed her by the shoulders.

“You may be his, baby girl, but you’re mine, too, and I love you so much.” The elder succubus smiled at her bewildered daughter, stroking her cheek. “My little Isabeau.” An embrace, a kiss to her forehead, and then Aífe was running. Running towards the Cauldron.

“Mom! _Mom!_ ” Bo cried out in terrified realization. She made to move after her but was stopped by strong arms around her waist. “Let me go! Let me _go!_ ” she shrieked, but Tamsin held her back in a fierce grip. Bo kicked and sobbed and reached for her mother, begging and pleading for her to stop.

Aífe didn’t stop. Didn’t look back. She stumbled when one of the Under-Fae sliced across her stomach, but she merely pressed her hands to the wound and continued forward. Staggering the last few steps, she grabbed the blackened copper rim and vaulted into the Cauldron.

_“Mom!”_

There was a single puff of fog, then the angry cry of twisting metal rent the air, as if the body of a bell had begun to warp mid-ring. An explosion of fire and sparks and smoke shrieked through the clearing, causing the defenders to duck and cover their heads. Copper shards struck home in each of the remaining Under-Fae, their twisted bodies dropping with sickening thuds.

When the smoke had cleared and the group returned to its feet, the Cauldron lay in pieces around them. Aífe was gone.


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the length of this AN, but it covers necessary things. Further apologies if this chapter is a little slower than the previous one; I needed to get everybody in place for the _final_ final battle. Also, with all the rereading I do, you'd think I'd pick up on my own continuity errors, but I missed two glaring ones. I was able to fix the discrepancy in how long Tamsin had known Kayleigh, but not the fact that Bo had to explain her relation to Dagda to Fíonn even though he was in the room when she discussed it with Trick and the Morrigan. So let's all pretend he paid the same attention we all do in boring but important meetings: none. For those of you who keep track of/look for such things, there's a Sword of Truth/Legend of the Seeker reference in here as well as a Buffy reference. And lastly, I've finally been the victim of uncredited borrowing, aka plagiarism! I'm so flattered.

The unnatural silence of the clearing was broken by a piercing scream – a howling cry of rage and pain and grief. Bo dropped to her knees as she wailed out her agony, her mending heart shattering once more under the weight of her loss. Tamsin knelt beside her, easing her distraught love to the ground without once letting her go, rubbing soothing circles on her back. “I’ve got you, Bo. I’m here. I’ve got you.” She didn’t lie to her, didn’t tell her it was going to be all right, because she knew it wouldn’t be.

Bo turned in Tamsin’s embrace and beat at her shoulders, her fists landing weak blows as she repeated the word “why” over and over against Tamsin’s neck. The Valkyrie held her tighter under the assault, recalling the day millennia ago when she had lain defeated on the ground asking the same question in the wake of her own loss. She had wished, then, that there was someone there to hold her, but had been forced to bear her pain alone. Tamsin refused to let Bo face that same lonely despair, and so the Valkyrie cradled her succubus in a tender embrace as the brunette howled her pain to the sky.

“Why?” Bo gasped again, gazing up at Tamsin. “Why?”

“To save you, Bo,” Tamsin murmured. “She loved you so very much, but her own pain had become too much to bear. It was an end to her suffering, but most of all, it was for you.”

“Mommy…” Bo whimpered, and the single word broke Tamsin’s heart.

The others stood a respectful distance away, gazing at the grieving succubus with empathy. Each of them knew this loss in their own way and none begrudged her the need to release her pain, though they knew it would never truly leave her. They simply hung their heads in acknowledging silence of Aífe’s sacrifice.

When Bo’s sobs began to ease, Fíonn cleared his throat. “We need to get going,” he encouraged reluctantly. “We still have to find the Sword.”

Bo took a shaky breath and nodded. Tamsin helped her to her feet, though she still kept her arm around the succubus’s shoulders. “You’re right,” Bo agreed in a voice hoarse from tears. “Let’s go.”

Fíonn nodded, grabbing his medallion. He was about to recite the incantation when the sound of cracking branches reached their ears. The group looked up sharply to see silhouettes approaching through the trees, poised as if to attack. “Run!” Lauren yelped, and all obeyed without hesitation.

Had they stayed, they may have seen the leader extend her hand in peace and gratitude.

…

The battlefield was a chaotic clash of blades and shields, Fae equally matched against their Under-Fae assailants. Sídhe had fallen, but not before felling tens of ancient sídhe themselves. While the Under-Fae fought alone, Fae both Light and Dark rushed to each other’s aid, moving in a synchronous battle dance as they cut down their foes.

The Morrigan swung her sword in deadly arcs, parrying and sweeping and sending heads rolling in her wake. Every so often, a bolt of lightning would blast an Under-Fae backwards to land as a smoking corpse, felled by the wrath of Lugh’s Spear.

The combatants suddenly froze in a single indrawn breath before the pause gave way to a blast of soundless thunder that sent a shockwave rolling through the Under-Fae. The ancient sídhe staggered backwards, swaying on their feet as if their life force was being leeched from them by some unseen power. The Fae used the advantage to cut them down in scores before the Under-Fae regained their footing and returned the assault.

Trick glanced over to meet the Morrigan’s gaze, neither bothering to hide the fear they both felt. The draining of the Under-Fae could only mean that the Cauldron had been destroyed…and that meant someone wasn’t coming back.

But all they could do was wait and fight.

…

Bo, Tamsin, Fíonn, and the rest of the group only stopped running when the faint sounds of battle reached their ears. They all doubled over panting and gasping, not once having slowed their retreat since they left the remains of the Cauldron.

“Did we…lose them?” Fíonn gasped.

“I…think so,” Kayleigh replied with similar difficulty.

“Right…ok…Sword.”

Everyone watched expectantly as the gancanagh held the medallion and recited the incantation. But instead of the bright glow they were used to, the triple-spiral shone only faintly, barely visible in the Otherworldly light. Fíonn stared at it for a moment, then took it from around his neck and held it out before the group.

“What? What is it?” his sister asked.

“I dunno. It’s like…it feels like it wants me to give it to someone, but I’m not sure who.”

Aislinn took it from his hand and held it up herself, but there was no reaction. The medal was passed around the circle with the same result until it reached Tamsin. The moment the Valkyrie took hold of the leather cord, the triple-spiral flared to life. “Of course,” Tamsin drawled, rolling her eyes.

“Ok, so we just follow Tamsin, simple as,” Kayleigh shrugged.

“But it’s not pulling me anywhere,” the Valkyrie noted. She took a few experimental steps away from the group. “ _Now_ it is,” she stepped back, “and now it’s not.” The blonde sighed. “Looks like I’m taking this solo.”

“Absolutely not!” Bo protested, gripping Tamsin’s arm.

The Valkyrie hung the medal around her neck. “I have no choice, Bo – not if we want the Sword.”

“Then we do this without the Sword,” Bo pleaded.

Tamsin cupped Bo’s face in her hands. “We need to get it before Dagda does, Bo, and with it, we have a better chance of defeating him.”

“Speaking of which, how are we even going to find him?” Lauren asked. “Do we even _want_ to find him?”

“If we want to put an end to this, yes,” Tamsin replied. “Though I’m more worried that he’ll find us first.”

“Bo’s father, Bo’s decision,” Dyson affirmed without even consulting the succubus, which made Tamsin glower at him. “It’s up to you…Bo?”

Bo wasn’t listening, instead staring into the distance in search of the whispers. They had started softly, black tendrils of sound weaving their way along the wind. Now they pulled at her, hooked into her chest, beckoning. Summoning. “He’s calling me,” Bo murmured. She turned to look at Tamsin with an expression of sheer terror. “I can hear him. Tamsin, he’s calling me.” The Valkyrie took her hand and Bo squeezed tightly.

“That’s disturbingly convenient,” Fíonn gulped.

“Well, at least it gives us a plan,” Kayleigh countered. “Tamsin goes after the sword, the rest of us go after Dagda.”

“He’s waiting for _me_ ,” Bo cut her off.

“That doesn’t mean you can’t have people with you!”

“I don’t think he’ll show himself if all of you are with me,” the succubus argued, though reluctantly. “I have to go alone.”

“Bo, you can’t!” Dyson looked distraught.

“I can and I will,” Bo snapped at him, and he flinched backwards, cowed.

“So what are the rest of us supposed to do?” Lauren’s voice was shrill.

“Go back to the battlefield,” Tamsin ordered. “Help where you can, but keep safe.”

“We can’t just let you two do this on your own,” Hale protested.

“You can and you will,” Tamsin mimicked her love. “Now _go_.”

Finally, reluctantly, the others nodded and turned to go. “You bring that back to me,” Fíonn gave an order of his own, pointing at the medal now around Tamsin’s neck.

“I will,” she promised. He nodded his satisfaction before following Kayleigh and Aislinn, who had already started walking, though not without a backward glance. Lauren gave Bo a brief hug before following as well.

Dyson nodded sadly to Bo, then clapped Tamsin’s shoulder. “Good luck, partner,” he murmured. He and Hale were the last to go, and Bo and Tamsin watched them all until they disappeared over the crest of the ridge.

When they were gone, succubus and Valkyrie fell into each other’s arms. “You come back to me, Tamsin Sigrúnsdatter,” Bo whispered, clinging fiercely to the blonde.

“Always, Bo.” Tamsin spoke the words as a vow. “You will never be without me. I will find the Sword and I will come back to you.”

“How will you find me?” the succubus choked on her words as she forced back tears.

“You’re my bondmate, Bo. We can feel each other right here.” She gently placed her hand over Bo’s heart. “I will always find you and I will always come back to you. I’m more worried about you fighting Dagda,” she continued, caressing the succubus’s cheek.

Bo placed her hand over Tamsin’s. “I’ll be fine. I can hold him off while you get the Sword.”

It was Tamsin’s turn to fight tears as she searched her love’s gaze. “Be careful, _mo laoch_. I love you so very much.”

Bo tried to remain strong, but a single sob escaped. “I love you, too, Tamsin,” she choked as she threw her arms around her Valkyrie. Tamsin returned the embrace with the same vehemence before crashing her lips against the brunette’s.

They kissed for as long as they dared before it became too hard to let go, pouring every promise of their heart into that kiss as they memorized the feeling of being in each other’s arms. Then they parted and turned and ran, neither looking back for fear of losing their nerve.

It still didn’t stop their tears.

…

With sharp eyes and drawn sword, Tamsin jogged across the brittle grass, following the medallion’s pull. The path she traveled was clear and eerily barren, skirting the edges of the trees without drawing too close. Just when she was beginning to wonder how much farther she’d have to run, the world suddenly plunged into utter blackness. Even the glow of the triple-spiral failed to shine. The Valkyrie froze, reaching out with all her senses to see if she could get her bearings. After a moment, a faint blue glow shone in the distance, though it did nothing to illuminate her surroundings.

Tamsin’s footsteps echoed on stone, which she most certainly hadn’t been running on before. The sound bounced around her as if rebounding off walls, so she guessed she must be in a cave of sorts. As she approached the glow, she saw that it was a ray of light shining down from above her: a strand of daylight working its way through a crack in the smooth stone ceiling she could just begin to make out. She could see now that she was indeed surrounded by unpolished stone, flat beneath her and curved around her. Tamsin was about to continue through the beam when a voice rang out from the blackness ahead.

_“Come no further.”_

Tamsin stopped but kept her sword drawn, alert for whatever might leap at her from the shadows beyond the light. A deep chuckle resounded from the darkness.

_“So. You’ve finally come for the Sword.”_

…

Bo lost track of how long she’d been walking, but it didn’t seem to matter in the disquieting landscape. The stunted trees continued along to her left as they had during the search for the Cauldron, but she could find no trace of the clearing they had escaped. Disconcerted, she continued onward, trying to keep her fear in check with determination.

The whispers that had been leading her onward ceased, and Bo stopped with them. She looked around her with a frown, wondering where she was supposed to go now that she had no guide.

“Hello, Isabeau.”

Bo’s heart froze for a few beats and she had to force herself to take a deep breath. Squaring her shoulders, she turned to face the man behind her.

“Hello, Father.”


	24. Chapter Twenty-Four

_“So. You’ve finally come for the Sword.”_

“Yes,” Tamsin replied, not sure what else to say as she scanned the shadows beyond the beam of light, trying to see who or what she was talking to. “Who are you?”

_“My name is not important, Tamsin Sigrúnsdatter.”_

Tamsin flinched despite herself. “How do you know _my_ name?” she demanded.

_“That, too, is not important. What’s important is why you want the Sword…and why I should give it to you.”_

The Valkyrie didn’t answer him – for it seemed like a him – immediately, instead continuing to look at her surroundings. “Where am I?”

_“You are in the Red Keep. But that does not answer my question.”_

Tamsin shivered. The Red Keep was the Otherworldly land of the dead, ruled over by Dunn and _not_ a safe place for the living. “How did I get here?”

_“You are stalling. Tell me why you want the Sword.”_

“I – _we_ need it to defeat Dagda. It’s probably our only chance.”

_“Only probably?”_ The voice sounded mildly amused.

“It _is_ our only chance,” the Valkyrie amended through gritted teeth. “Even my sword won’t be enough, and Bo’s dagger sure as hell won’t do the trick.”

_“Ah, yes. Young Isabeau.”_ There was a pause. _“Do you love her?”_

“Yes,” Tamsin blurted without hesitation, caught off guard.

_“And yet you left her alone to find and face her father with nothing but her wits and her dagger. What kind of person does that to the woman she loves?”_

“It was something Bo _needed_ to do,” Tamsin protested, once again through gritted teeth. “She said it herself – Dagda wouldn’t reveal himself to anyone but her, and we need him to reveal himself. As soon as I get the Sword I will return to her side and give it to Bo so she can defeat her father and put an end to this.” She no longer cared how or why this voice had the information it did – only that it relinquished the Sword so she could return to the succubus as soon as possible.

_“Which brings us back to the question of why I should give it to you in the first place. What makes you worthy of wielding Nuada’s Sword?”_

Tamsin blinked. “I just said it’s not for me, it’s for Bo.”

_“But what makes you worthy of even bringing it to her? Why should you be allowed to so much as grip the hilt?”_

“So I can bring it to Bo!” Tamsin shouted, frustrated.

_“You do not understand the question, Valkyrie. Again I ask, what makes you worthy of bringing it to Bo?”_ When Tamsin didn’t answer, the voice continued, _“Allow me to simplify: what makes you worthy of Bo?”_

Tamsin’s heart turned to lead in her chest as the voice laid her deepest fear before her. As much as she loved the succubus, as much as she wanted to and would protect her until her dying breath, even though the two had bonded and turned the Valkyrie’s wings white, Tamsin still wasn’t sure if she deserved it – still wasn’t sure if she deserved Bo.

“I…don’t know,” the Valkyrie admitted, her voice breaking as she gazed at the floor. “After all I’ve done to others – to _her_ …I don’t know if I am.”

_“Then there is no reason for me to give you the Sword.”_

Tamsin’s head snapped back up as rage and determination boiled within her. “You know what? My worth means nothing here, _nothing_.” The words began to pour from her in a flood. “None of this is about me. I don’t matter in this fight. I am just another warrior wielding just another sword. But Bo? _She_ matters. _She_ is worth _everything_ – to me, to this battle, to the sídhe, to both my world and the Otherworld! Everything hinges on her now and I’ll be damned if I let her do this alone! I will fight for her, I will fight _with_ her until my last breath! I may not be worthy of her, I may _never_ be worthy of her, but I will spend the rest of my life devoted to her. She is my bondmate and I love her with everything I am! Bo gives me worth! She makes me a better person! She gives me strength and confidence and _hope_ – hope that I can atone for my sins! She is love and forgiveness and everything I wish I could be! She is the light to my darkness and I will _never_ let that light go out!”

Silence followed the Valkyrie’s words of devotion. Tamsin was breathing heavily, shaking where she stood in the wake of her vow. Just when she began to wonder if the voice had left, there was a chuckle in the darkness.

_“And_ that _, Tamsin Sigrúnsdatter, is why you are more than worthy of Isabeau and of bringing her the Sword.”_

There was movement in the shadows and Tamsin squinted to get a better look. But then the hilt of a blade shone in the beam of light, extended for her to take. The Valkyrie’s eyes widened and she couldn’t help but gasp even as she reached out a trembling hand and took Nuada’s Sword.

Both blade and hilt seemed to be forged of silver and steel. The grip was wrapped in fine silver wire, just thin enough to be nearly seamless but thick enough that the Sword would not slip in the wielder’s hand. The pommel was simply a flattened circle at the base of the grip and the ends of the crosspiece curled inward to touch the blade. The edges of the blade extended at an outward angle before curving back around to a deadly point. And at the base of each side of the blade, just above the hilt, the triple-spiral shone in etched silver, and just the right tilt in the light made the symbol glow white. Tamsin turned her gaze from the blade to the shadows and saw a silver hand retreating into the darkness. And she knew, then, exactly who she’d been speaking to.

_“Do give my cousin my regards, will you?”_ the voice requested with no small amount of amusement.

“I will.” The Valkyrie placed her right fist over her chest – minding both swords she now held – and bowed low. “ _Go raibh maith agat._ I am in your debt.”

_“I will consider that debt repaid when Dagda lies slain. Now go. Isabeau is waiting for you.”_

Tamsin gave the voice one last nod of respect before turning and beginning to run. She had barely taken a few steps when the world lurched beneath her feet and she found herself standing once again on the barren landscape of the Otherworld. Looking behind her, she saw no trace of the cave or even a hint of the Red Keep in the distance.

Gripping Nuada’s Sword and her own blade tightly in each hand, Tamsin closed her eyes and took a deep breath, searching for the connection she shared with her love and praying she had been right about being able to find her. In the space of a breath she found herself being pulled forward as surely as she had been pulled by the medallion. Opening her eyes, she began to run.

…

Bo wasn’t sure what she’d expected her father to look like, but she knew that eight feet tall was not among _any_ possible expectations. But there he stood, towering above her. She was surprised to see him devoid of armor; instead he wore a simple brown tunic belted over loose pants just a shade darker. His wavy brown hair hung to his shoulders and he gazed down at his daughter with eyes so dark they were nearly black. His beard did nothing to hide the malicious coldness of his smile and his expression made Bo shiver.

“My little Isabeau…look how you’ve grown.”

“You have no right to call me that,” the succubus snapped, glaring up at the once-leader of the Tuatha.

Dagda’s chuckle was sinister. “Ah, yes – your mother called you that, did she not? Such a pity that she died the way she did.”

Bo wanted to lunge screaming at him right then, but she held her ground. “I doubt that you actually care – well, maybe about the Cauldron, but certainly not my mother,” the succubus growled back.

“Oh, but I _do_ care, Isabeau. She was such a wonderful plaything while I still had her. And she gave me you, after all.”

It took every ounce of Bo’s willpower for her to hold her ground, but she did, every muscle in her body tensed. “I am _not_ yours,” she retorted, holding tight to her mother’s last words of love.

“Of course,” Dagda dismissed. His smile widened, and Bo felt sick at the sight of it. “So good of that Valkyrie to put you on the Death Train for me. Shame that you had to jump. I was so looking forward to finally having you.”

Bo was sure that the Tuatha was expecting her to flinch at the reminder of this betrayal, but the succubus didn’t react. “So sorry to disappoint,” she replied, her voice dripping with venomous sarcasm. “My only regret is tearing the veil as I left.”

“Such a favor you did me!” Dagda grinned. “I thought I would have to wait at least another century for the tears to widen on their own, but you went and quickened my plans. Such a good little daddy’s girl you are.” Bo bristled, but said nothing. “Such a pity for you and your friends, though, that their time in your world has to end so soon. It won’t be long before the veil tears completely and I can reclaim what was stolen from me so many years ago.”

“You failed once and you’ll fail again,” Bo declared, lifting her chin defiantly.

“Oh, but I was so hoping you would rule by my side once the world above was under my control again,” Dagda all but purred, and Bo actually felt her stomach churn with disgust.

“I intend to send you to the Red Keep before you even have the chance to glimpse my world,” she spat, recalling what she’d learned of the Otherworld’s realm of the dead.

“Such a pity. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to send you there myself, but if I have to, well, it’s for the greater good.”

The Tuatha drew his sword from the scabbard on his belt and Bo could see that the blade was longer than she was tall. She drew her dagger in response, well aware that she would be doing more dodging than anything. “Goodbye, little Isabeau,” Dagda said with false sorrow. And then he swung.

Bo rolled to the side as the blade came down with a heavy thud, sending pieces of dirt flying as it carved into the earth. Dagda effortlessly pulled the sword free and swung again, and the succubus ducked to avoid having her head swiped from her shoulders. When he brought his sword down for another strike, Bo slid beneath him and slashed at the back of his ankle, hoping to cripple him. Her dagger barely broke skin, leaving only the thinnest line of white blood it its wake. Dagda didn’t even react, instead turning to chase the succubus.

The Tuatha was fast, but Bo was just a hair faster, and she once again slid away from his blow. With a running leap, she stabbed deep into his thigh, this time eliciting a grunt of pain and annoyance. But just as she pulled her dagger free, Dagda gave a shake of his leg that sent her flying, sprawling backwards into the dirt. Head spinning and ears ringing, Bo was only just able to roll away from his next attack. She knew that any attempt to block would be hopeless, as the force of the blow would shatter both her dagger and her arm. All she could do was run and slice.

But it wasn’t long before she began to flag, gasping for air as she tried to dodge swing after swing. She had barely scratched at her father, though she had managed to widen the cut on his ankle just enough to give him a slight limp. Bo knew she couldn’t keep this up forever, and her worst fears were realized when she dodged just a step too far. Just as she had done when fighting the Under-Fae at the Dal, the momentum caused Bo to lose her footing, this time sending her sprawling on her stomach. Her dagger skittered across the ground and Dagda stopped it with his foot. With a sadistic laugh, he crushed the weapon under his boot, and Bo could hear and just barely see the blade snap at the hilt with a metallic crack. The succubus scrabbled backwards as Dagda moved forward, lifting his blade high. She knew she had to time this just right, had to roll away just at the right moment…

Time slowed, each second stretching before Bo’s eyes. The blade was slashing downwards, the sharpened edge poised to slice her in half. And then Tamsin was there.

The Valkyrie landed in a crouch, wings spread wide. Eyes of depthless black shone with victory and her lips curved upwards in triumph as Dagda’s blade rebounded from her wings with a shrieking clang.

Bo gazed up at the Valkyrie with unrestrained awe. Clad in her armor with a blade shining in each hand, standing over the succubus with fierce protectiveness as her white wings stretched out to the sky, that hollow, elemental visage promising destruction, Tamsin was an image of war. She was harbinger of death, angel of battle, fierce and powerful and unstoppable. She was vengeance, she was victory, and she was beautiful.

Events continued in slow motion as Tamsin spun right, her wings slicing deep into Dagda’s side. The Tuatha stumbled backwards with a bellow of pain and rage as the Valkyrie took her place by her warrior’s side. Only then did time resume its normal pace.

Without looking away from the wounded Tuatha, Tamsin held the Sword out to Bo. “Your cousin Nuada says hello,” she commented casually. Stunned, the succubus could only take the blade from the Valkyrie’s hand and grip it tightly in her own.

The moment Bo’s fingers wrapped around the hilt of the Sword, the blade flared to life with an aura of glowing white, the triple-spirals blindingly bright in the metal. A surge of energy and strength pulsed through the succubus’s veins to fill her body and she held her head high as she took a fighting stance, her fear cast aside. She and Tamsin watched as Dagda staggered on his feet, hand pressed to his side.

“You think the Sword will help you?” he rasped mockingly. “You really think you can defeat me?”

“Yes, I do,” Bo replied, her voice ringing out with the power of Nuada’s blade. “ _We_ do.”

“Ah, yes…you and your pet bird,” Dagda spat.

Tamsin only arched an eyebrow at the slight. Bo was less forgiving.

Both sides charged forwards and met in a clash of steel. Tamsin and Bo crossed blades to catch the edge of Dagda’s. The two women slid sideways from the parry, Tamsin leaping high to slash at the Tuatha’s shoulder as Bo gouged his thigh. Dagda roared in rage as he took a swing at his daughter, but Bo blocked with ease, the power of the Sword absorbing the force of the blow. Dagda spun to attack Tamsin, but she was ready with her own blade, bracing herself against his attack.

The wounded Tuatha’s swings became wild as he tried to keep track of both of his attackers. But Bo and Tamsin were faster, dodging and parrying his every strike. It was his turn to stumble, his turn to falter under the onslaught. His next swipe at Bo was clumsy and overbalanced, giving the succubus the opportunity she needed. When his sword came down, she parried at the base of the blade, just above the crosspiece. Twisting the Sword, she used her own crosspiece to catch the edge of Dagda’s, and with a harsh jerk she sent the Tuatha’s sword flying through the air. His expression was one of shock and then agony as Tamsin took his moment of vulnerability to slice deep into the Achilles tendon of both ankles, effectively crippling him. Dagda fell swaying to his knees and Bo vaulted herself off his bleeding thigh, turning the Sword in midair as she gripped it with both hands. She came down with her feet planted on his chest and Nuada’s blade buried to the hilt in Dagda’s heart.

_“Slán, m’athair.” Goodbye, my father._

_“M’iníon…”_ Dagda gurgled. _“Slán…go foill.” My daughter…goodbye…for now._

The last two words made Bo shudder even as her father shuddered beneath her before sighing his last breath.

Bo staggered backwards to stand by Tamsin’s side, both of them breathing heavily as they stared at the corpse of the Tuatha. After nearly a minute of silent observation, realization finally replaced disbelief.

Bo choked out a shocked laugh and Tamsin did the same, both women letting their swords drop from their hands. And then they were in each other’s arms, sobbing and laughing and clinging to each other, faces buried in each other’s shoulders. “It’s over,” the succubus gasped. “We did it. It’s over.”

“We did,” Tamsin agreed, just as breathless.

They would have stayed in that embrace but for the slow applause that came from behind them. “Bravo,” a feminine voice congratulated. “And I didn’t think it could be done.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Language Lesson:  
> "Slán, m’athair": Pronounced "slawn, ma-her." "Goodbye, my father."  
> "M’iníon…slán…go foill": Pronounced "mi-NEE-uh, slawn go full." "My daughter, goodbye for now."  
> For those of you wondering about the voice and the silver hand, Nuada was leader of the Tuatha before he lost his hand in a battle. One of the other Tuatha later made him a new one out of silver. The first part of this chapter was once again written to "Heart of Courage" but the fight sequence was written to "[Sands of Time](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi1INVUCeKs)," by Audiomachine, both cranked up to eleven.


	25. Chapter Twenty-Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In rereading [Resistance is Futile](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1415443) by [shipallllltheships](http://archiveofourown.org/users/shipallllltheships/pseuds/shipallllltheships) I noticed that a conversation in Chapter Seventeen of this story very closely matched one in hers. This was unintentional on my part and I am deeply, deeply sorry. I'm not sure how to fix it, either, as I kind of need the Chapter Seventeen conversation. As a side note, I highly recommend the fic.

The Under-Fae dropped without warning: simply fell where they fought like puppets cut from strings. The battling Fae stood stunned and wary, wondering if this was some trick of the ancient sídhe to force them to drop their guard. Ever-so-cautiously, a gancanagh inched forward and checked the pulse of the Under-Fae he’d been locked in combat with moments before. When he looked back up and shook his head, the entire army slumped with a sigh of weary relief. Just as there had been no battle cries, there were no shouts of celebration; their fight wasn’t finished yet.

A rustling from the trees made the Fae tense again, preparing themselves for a second onslaught. But though the figures that emerged from the forest were ancient sídhe, they were not the Under-Fae the army was expecting. But for their clothing of time past, the sídhe that approached could have been kin.

The group was led by a fair-skinned woman with long red hair and startlingly green eyes, flanked by a blonde woman and dark-haired man. They slowed upon seeing the Fae, turning their attention to the battlefield itself. The redhead’s eyes settled on a gancanagh with a broken leg trying desperately to scramble backwards and she beckoned her companions forward. All three of them knelt by the injured man and carefully held him in place.

Fíonn broke through the front lines of the Fae in a burst of bravery and leadership he didn’t know he possessed. _“Stop!”_ he commanded in Irish. _“Come no closer!”_

The leader looked up at him and held her hands up in an imploration of peace. The woman at her side had taken the gancanagh’s head in her lap and begun to whisper a chant. As Fíonn watched, the Fae fell into a sort of peaceful trance, barely reacting when the man at the leader’s side set the bone in his leg. He continued to keep the bone in place as the redhead began to splint the gancanagh’s leg with nearby branches and what looked to be bandages from the pouch at her waist.

The Fae stood stunned. _“Why do you help us?”_ Fíonn asked, his voice barely cutting through the stillness of the aftermath.

The leader looked up at him again. _“Only those who followed Dagda sought to cross the veil and leave this place. The rest of us are content to stay. For that, Dagda persecuted us and drove us into the shadows. We have lived for millennia in fear of him. And now you have come from beyond the veil and taken down his army. In fighting to save your world, you have saved ours, too.”_

…

Bo and Tamsin sprang apart and retrieved their swords, facing down the newcomer. The woman regarded them in turn with an ice-blue gaze. Her pale face was framed by raven hair that cascaded in waves over her shoulders to hang at her waist. Her robes were darker even than her hair and attached to her belt was an ornate but lethal-looking longsword. On each shoulder sat a scald crow, both regarding the succubus and Valkyrie with the same attentiveness as their mistress.

“Mór Ríoghan,” Tamsin breathed in awe, but she did not lower her sword.

Bo was less impressed. “And where were you during all of this?!”

“Peace, cousin,” the Tuatha implored, holding out her hands in supplication. “You’ve no more need for anger.”

“You’re avoiding the question,” Tamsin snapped, her shock having given way to irritation. “I would’ve thought that a goddess of war would be drawn to such pivotal battles.”

Mór Ríoghan shrugged. “To observe, perhaps, but not to partake. You forget, I thrive on chaos as much as battle. Besides, moving against Dadga would have been a betrayal against my kind, and such betrayals are not taken lightly here.” She fixed her attention on Bo. “Though my words may be worth little, I am sorry for what you were forced to do.”

The succubus blinked in surprise and confusion. “I had to,” she replied, gesturing at Dagda’s body with Nuada’s Sword. “He would have killed me and everyone else and torn the veil if I hadn’t.”

The Tuatha shook her head. “No one should have to kill her own father. Yet there he lies, slain.” She waved a hand at the dead giant’s body and it shimmered into nothingness, leaving only a pool of white blood in its wake.

“Where did you send him? Where is he now?” Bo demanded.

“I sent him nowhere; I simply cleared what remained. His soul is in the Red Keep, where I suspect he is getting a rather thorough talking-to from Nuada. Nuada says you may keep the Sword, by the way.”

Bo didn’t care about the Sword at the moment; more important thoughts and worries were spinning in her head. “If he’s in the Red Keep, then my mother…?” She choked on the last word. Tamsin switched her sword to her left hand so she could take Bo’s in her right, wrapping her wing around the succubus’s shoulders.

“She is among her fellow warriors in Tír na nÓg, no longer plagued by her suffering,” Mór Ríoghan replied gently. “Apparently Cú Chulainn has already taken quite a liking to her,” she added with the quirk of a smile.

“Seriously?” Tamsin gaped. “God dammit…” Bo shot her a look that made the Valkyrie purse her lips in embarrassment and retract her wings, returning to her face to a now-blushing visage.

“So…she’s all right?” the succubus questioned the Tuatha, her voice small. “No one can hurt her again?”

“Never again,” Mór Ríoghan assured her with understanding kindness.

“I…thank you,” Bo sighed, slumping where she stood. Tamsin released her hand to wrap her arm around her love’s shoulders instead, keeping her on her feet.

Mór Ríoghan took the scald crows from her own shoulders and held them in front of her. “Go fetch the Blood King and that wild little human, would you?” The scald crows cawed their assent and took off, heading in the direction of the battlefield. Once they had departed, the Tuatha turned back to the two Fae. “Now there is only the matter of the Treasures to attend to.”

Tamsin groaned. “Great. Negotiations. You _do_ realize that if we split them then all this shit will just repeat itself?”

“Yes, I do realize that, and did you not hear me say that you may keep the Sword?” Mór Ríoghan replied, slightly amused. “The Treasures are to remain in your world, never to touch the veil again.”

This time both women gaped at her. “But…I thought you wanted…” the Valkyrie tried.

“No, _Dagda_ wanted,” the Tuatha cut her off. “The rest of us are quite content here, contrary to what the Fae of your world might believe. Only Dagda and his followers sought to revolt. His ambitions poisoned the Otherworld and the Fae who followed him. Look around you, Valkyrie. Things are already changing in the wake of his death.” Bo and Tamsin looked at each other and then at the surrounding landscape. Indeed, the grass seemed to be just a little greener, and the trees less bent and gnarled. “It will take time for all to return to as it was,” Mór Ríoghan continued, “But return it will, and we will be able to live out our existence in peace.”

“Who will be their leader now? You?” Bo asked.

“As Dagda’s daughter, the role technically falls to you, though I have the suspicion it’s not a role you want.”

“I don’t,” the succubus snapped immediately. “You can have it.”

“A goddess of war ruling the Otherworld… That should be interesting,” Tamsin commented.

The goddess in question laughed. “Yes, you’d think that as such I’d be more eager to gain dominion over the veil. But ultimate peace does not last; there will be plenty of strife to keep me busy in the years to come. I must say, though, the current unity is rather refreshing.”

“Bo!” came a shout from their left. The succubus spun just in time to be slammed into Kenzi’s embrace, the human holding her tight enough to make breathing difficult. Trick followed at a more subdued pace, looking out of breath as he used the Spear as a walking stick. The scald crows soared above them before descending to perch on their mistress’s shoulders again.

“Oh my God oh my God _thank fucking God_ you’re okkkkkk!” Kenzi shout-whined into Bo’s shoulder. Then she pulled away and wrapped Tamsin in a similar hug. “And you, _you_ , running off to be all heroic and shit I was so worried young lady!” With one last squeeze, she whirled on Mór Ríoghan.

“And _you_!” she pointed an accusatory finger at the amused Tuatha. “You and your warnings and creepy birds and creepy bird bullshit and I…I’m sorry I shot it,” she ended, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

“No apologies necessary,” Mór Ríoghan replied with a permissive wave. “He was actually rather impressed.” The crow on her left shoulder gave a low caw of agreement.

Trick, for his part, was just as shocked as Tamsin had been. “My Lady,” he finally managed, dropping to one knee.

“Oh, do please get up,” Mór Ríoghan sighed. “I am, for all intents and purposes, your granddaughter’s cousin, after all.” Startled, Trick obeyed without question. “Good. Now, for the Treasures.” She gazed at each of the four Fae in turn. “Blood King, you and Isabeau are here as the wielders of the Spear and Sword and thus bound to their secrets. The Valkyrie and human are here because their connection to Isabeau is such that she would divulge to them said secrets whether I liked it or not,” she smiled. Only then did Trick seem to notice the Sword glowing in Bo’s hand and his eyes widened at the sight.

“You may now be the keepers of the Treasures, but as leader of the Tuatha, it is my responsibility to ensure their safety and protection,” Mór Ríoghan continued, easily settling into her new role. “As such, the same precautions taken with the Spear shall now be taken with the Sword as well. Isabeau, as you seem to be missing a dagger, that is the shape the Sword will take when it is returned to your world,” she nodded to the succubus. “Only the four of you will know the true nature of the Spear and Sword. None who have fought on the battlefield this day will remember the fate of the Treasures once the veil is closed.”

“And how exactly are we going to close the veil without destroying one of the Treasures?” Tamsin asked.

“Lia Fáil was destroyed because its power was used without invocation and because the Treasures were still divided,” the Tuatha replied. “You will have both Spear and Sword on your side of the veil and the invocation required to close it.”

“That’s it?!” Kenzi all but shrieked. “It was that easy?! We could’ve just waved the Spear and said ‘abracadabra’ and this all would’ve been fixed?!”

“Hardly. With the Treasures still divided, the Spear would have been destroyed, leaving the Sword and Cauldron in the Otherworld. Even with only the power of the Cauldron, Dagda would have been able to tear the veil again and you would have had to retrieve the Sword to stop him. You must clear out infection before sealing the wound, else the infection will continue to spread until it tears the wound open again.”

Kenzi made a face of disgust. “That’s a…cheerful metaphor.” Mór Ríoghan smirked and shrugged.

“So we can close the veil now? Get everyone back to our world and end this for good?” Bo confirmed. After all that had happened that day, she wanted to ensure the finality of this battle.

Mór Ríoghan nodded. “We shall not see each other again, but you shall not be forgotten here. See to it that your people never forget.”

“We will,” Trick vowed.

The Tuatha gave a final nod of acceptance before disappearing in a sudden swirl of black. A flock of scald crows burst forth from where she had stood and the human and three Fae ducked as the birds swooped over their heads and off into the distant sky.

“What the actual _fuck_ …?!” Kenzi stood slack-jawed in their wake.

“Woman knows how to make an exit,” was Tamsin’s only comment. When Bo didn’t reply, the Valkyrie held her a little tighter and kissed the top of her head. “Ready to go home, succulette?” she murmured.

Bo nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Tamsin kissed her again before guiding her in the direction of the battlefield. Trick and Kenzi followed without question.

“So, um, what _happened_ out here?” Kenzi pestered, not quite understanding the gravity of the situation.

“Later, short-stack,” Tamsin promised. “We’re not done yet.”

…

Bo, Tamsin, Kenzi, and Trick returned to a scene of exhausted solemnity. Ancient sídhe were helping their present-day counterparts tend to wounds and make stretchers for the injured and fallen. Bo gazed across the battlefield, searching to make sure that her friends were all right. To her relief, she found all of them. Aislinn was having an animated conversation with an ancient Fae while Kayleigh, who didn’t speak enough Irish to join in, stood awkwardly by. Lauren was helping a few ancient sídhe tend to wounds while Dyson served as interpreter. Hale was performing the grim task of loading stretchers as was – to Bo’s immense surprise – the Morrigan. Tamsin was the one who spotted Fíonn in deep discussion with a redheaded Fae woman who bore the air of command. Giving Bo’s hand a squeeze of reassurance, the Valkyrie jogged over to meet him.

Bo watched her go for a moment before a sigh from beside her drew her attention. She glanced over at her grandfather and the expression on his face made her heart hurt. “Trick?”

“I never told her I was sorry.” His voice was hollow. “All these years and I never told her how much I regretted my decision. And she still forgave me.”

The succubus placed a comforting hand on the Blood King’s shoulder, knowing exactly whom he was talking about. “I think she knew, Trick. And I don’t think she ever really hated you.” Bo wiped her eyes, clearing her throat to steady herself. “Mór Ríoghan said she’s in Tír na nÓg and that she’s happy.”

Trick let out another long sigh, this one of both relief and sadness. “Good. That’s good.” He excused himself without a word, needing a moment alone.

Tamsin, meanwhile, was handing Fíonn his amulet. “As promised.”

“So you found the Sword?” he asked eagerly as he hung the pendant around his neck.

The Valkyrie nodded. “Bo’s got it. I’m sure she’ll let you look at it if you ask.”

“Uh, speaking of asking,” the gancanagh began, rubbing the back of his neck. “I, uh, have a question for you and I wasn’t sure how to ask but Kayleigh said you wouldn’t kill me, so – ”

“Spit it out,” Tamsin cut him off, amused.

“Well, I was just wondering why your wings were black that one day but – ”

“Your wings are _black_?” This time it was the Morrigan who cut him off. “Why Tamsin, I’m surprised you’re willing to admit how far you’ve _Fallen_ ,” she mocked.

Tamsin arched an eyebrow, unfazed. “Hardly. We were just discussing how high I’ve _Risen_.”

The smirk dropped from Evony’s face. “That’s impossible. No one would _ever_ bond with _you_!”

The Valkyrie cocked her head, then let her features darken as she unfurled her wings. The Morrigan stood slack-jawed as Tamsin’s brilliant white feathers fluttered in the Otherworldly breeze.

“Show-off,” Kayleigh and Kenzi muttered in tandem, their attention having been drawn by Evony’s exclamation.

“But…” the Morrigan struggled. “How… _who_?”

Bo timed her entrance perfectly. Sword held loosely in her left hand, she sauntered over to her Valkyrie, casually yet deliberately running her hand along the inside of Tamsin’s wing before wrapping her arm around the blonde’s waist. Evony’s shoulders slumped as she gaped for a moment longer before turning and trudging away.

“So…” Fíonn dragged out after she had left.

“Later,” Tamsin promised. She was retracting her wings when Kenzi cleared her throat. The human was holding out an expectant hand, making grabbing motions with her fingers. Bo could tell by the play of the Valkyrie’s features that she was rolling her eyes as she plucked a feather from her wing and handed it to Kenzi.

“Fluffy!” the excitable Russian squealed with a giddy grin. Kayleigh reached over to feel the feather too before it disappeared in a puff of white mist. Tamsin gave Kenzi an affectionate smile as she pulled back her wings and let the darkness fade from her face.

An unfamiliar voice called Fíonn’s name and the gancanagh turned to see the red-haired leader of the ancient sídhe heading their way. “Oh!” Fíonn said with a start before calling back something in Irish and beckoning her over. “That’s Caoimhe, the head of the tribe that came to help us,” he explained to Bo. “Apparently there are many scattered throughout the Otherworld. She asked for you by name and wants to meet you.”

Startled, Bo watched warily as Caoimhe approached. The ancient sídhe appraised her with eyes so vibrantly green that flashes of a country Bo had never seen passed through the succubus’s mind. _“Dia dhuit,”_ the Fae intoned in a melodic voice, and Bo recognized the traditional greeting. Caoimhe’s next words were a jumble of syllables the succubus didn’t understand and she glanced at Fíonn for help.

“She wants to thank you for what you’ve done here – for saving all of them from Dagda’s rule,” the gancanagh translated. He listened as Caoimhe continued. “She also wants to say…she saw what happened at the Cauldron and wants to express her condolences, for the loss of both Aífe _and_ Dagda. She says your mother’s sacrifice was great and brave and neither you nor she will be forgotten.”

Bo frowned. “Why mourn the loss of Dagda? I had to…he would’ve killed everyone.”

Fíonn translated for Caoimhe and the sídhe leader smiled sadly as she replied. “She says that he was still your father and it’s still a loss, especially since you were the one who had to kill him,” the gancanagh interpreted.

The succubus recalled Mór Ríoghan’s similar assertion and swallowed back tears she didn’t understand. “Thank you. _Go raibh maith agat_ ,” Bo amended.

Caoimhe smiled at her with a nod of acceptance and respect before saying something to Fíonn. “Everyone’s ready to go,” he translated for the group. “It’s time to end this.” The redhead had turned to go at this point, but she took one last glance at Bo, her smile becoming a smirk. She made an offhand comment over her shoulder before heading back to the group she’d been assisting. Fíonn burst into laughter.

“What? What did she say?” Bo demanded.

“She said, ‘Nice Sword,’” Fíonn replied as he tried to catch his breath.

To Bo’s surprise, she found herself laughing, too.

…

Most of the stretchers had been carried through the breach by the time Bo and Tamsin rejoined the Fae. The succubus tried not to fidget under their stares; not only had word spread of Dagda’s defeat but one look at the Sword elicited wide eyes and gasps throughout the crowd.

Of the two hundred Fae that had entered the Otherworld, they had only lost about forty – a brilliantly small number in the scheme of things, but a blow nonetheless. Light and Dark sídhe alike felt the loss as that of kin, all having thrown aside their differences and come together in a battle for the fate of two worlds. Many of the Fae were in shock, walking forward with empty expressions that occasionally flickered with sadness.

It didn’t take long for the remainder of the Fae to cross over and Fíonn said one last goodbye to Caoimhe before stepping through himself. Before Bo stepped through, she took a moment to look back across the landscape. It was already starting to look a little brighter – the trees not so withered, the sky not so angry.

“Are you all right?” Tamsin asked her softly, resting a hand on her shoulder.

“I was born here,” Bo realized. “Here in the Otherworld.”

“But it’s not your home, Bo,” the Valkyrie reminded her, following her train of thought. “Your home is with your family and your friends, back in our world. Leave the past here, where it belongs.”

Bo turned her gaze to meet Tamsin’s. “ _You’re_ my home.”

The Valkyrie kissed her with soothing tenderness. “Then let’s go.” Arms around each other’s shoulders, the two women stepped through the veil to return to the alley behind the Dal.

With everyone through, Bo and Trick stepped forward, placing the blades of the Sword and Spear on each side of the tear leading to the Otherworld. The succubus froze even as the hand holding the Sword shook. “I don’t know the words,” she gasped.

Strong arms wrapped around her from behind and a lithe body pressed against her back. Tamsin reached forward to lay her hand over Bo’s as she gripped Nuada’s Sword. “I’ve got you,” The Valkyrie whispered in her ear.

Voices strong and sure, Tamsin and Trick recited the invocation, calling upon the ancient words that held dominion of both worlds and the veil between them. As soon as the final phrase was spoken, the breach closed in a blinding flash of light. All around them, the sídhe sighed in relief as they felt the remaining tears close, the veil solid once again. When the light faded away, Trick was holding his quarterstaff and Bo held a dagger exactly like the one she’d carried before. The only hint of the Sword’s true nature was in the way it felt in her grasp.

There was silent stillness before a Light banshee moved first, letting her sword clatter to the ground as she threw her arms around the leanan sídhe next to her. The Fae returned the embrace, her Dark status notwithstanding. Disbelieving laughter and shouts of triumph echoed around the alley as Fae embraced and clapped each other’s shoulders and slumped against each other in victory.

Bo fell back in the arms of her love, letting the Valkyrie support her. “Take me home, _mo ghrá_.”

The endearment warmed Tamsin’s heart as she pressed a kiss to Bo’s hair. “Of course, _mo laoch_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Caoimhe is pronounced "KWEE-vah." Fun fact: "aoi" is pronounced "ee" and the original/traditional spelling of Aífe's name is Aoife. There will be one more chapter to finish everything up, and because more smut.


	26. Chapter Twenty-Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sadly, we have come to the last chapter of this story. This has been such a wild ride and I'm really going to miss it. But there _is_ a sequel in the works, once I can figure out an overarching plot. Suggestions welcome.  
>  I just want to say an enormous thank you to everyone who's been following and kudos-ing and commenting. I owe an especially heartfelt thanks to mightychipmunk over on ff.net for staying with me for months and months as I made my way through this story.  
> This chapter was written to the song "[All Souls Night](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RooTTuLCfNM)," by Loreena McKennitt and one other song to be revealed.

Compared to the chaos of preparing for an impending apocalypse, the days leading up to Samhain crawled by. Bo didn’t mind; it gave her time to grieve.

For two days after Dagda’s defeat and the sealing of the veil, Bo lay curled around Tamsin in the bed they shared, sobbing onto the Valkyrie’s shoulder for what was taken from her and what she was forced to take from herself. Tamsin held her close through all of it, rubbing her back and stroking her hair and murmuring soothing words of reassurance and comfort. When words ran out, Tamsin began to sing. In a voice low and husky and sweet, the Valkyrie sang Old Norse lullabies her mother had once sung to her, then moved on to the songs she’d learned in her many lives – tunes spanning the world and the ages. Tamsin was heartened when Bo began emerging from her grief to timidly ask for her favorites. The Valkyrie complied until her voice was hoarse.

Outside the bondmates’ emotional haven, the sealing of the veil had a greater impact on the Fae world than anyone had anticipated. Trick’s leadership on the battlefield had earned him the title of Acting Ash and he’d barely held the position for an hour before sídhe were coming to him with proposals for change. The unity of Dark and Light in the breaching of the Otherworld had changed more than a few minds about the separation of the sides and how archaic the original laws were. Upon calling the Morrigan, Trick was informed that the Dark sídhe had much the same idea. The two leaders had since met daily, working to hammer out new laws intended to ease the restrictions over time. Though news of the Otherworldly battle had spread through the Fae community like wildfire, change would still be slow in coming.

The memorial service for the sídhe lost to battle was to be held at the Dal, just before the Samhain celebration. The traditional wakes of the sídhe were of fond remembrance instead of mourning, and though those to be remembered had had their lives taken too soon, the Fae that had fought beside them felt there was no better way to honor them than on a day sacred to the sídhe.

Though the ceremony was set to start at five, Fae – almost all of them sídhe – began trickling into the Dal at about three to drink lightly and converse, but not before stopping to gaze at the names of the fallen. The plaque that hung beside the bar was a three-pointed shield of polished wood that bore two columns of nameplates: the forty-six people who gave their lives in the sealing of the veil. The forty-seventh name was Aífe’s, centered above the columns and larger than the rest – not because she was Trick’s daughter and Bo’s mother but because she had made the ultimate sacrifice for the sídhe. Only those who had borne witness to that sacrifice knew whom it was truly for.

Bo traced the letters of her mother’s name with a sad smile, remembering how happy Aífe had looked when they reunited at the hospital in the Dark compound. The succubus wanted to remember the love and happiness they’d felt together in the calm before the storm, before the battle, before that last moment at the Cauldron. The plaque memorialized how her mother had died, but Bo wanted to remember how she had lived.

Bo closed her eyes as she felt warm arms wrap around her waist. She covered the slim fingers atop her stomach with her own, leaning back into her bondmate’s embrace. “She would be very proud of you,” Tamsin whispered in the succubus’s ear, kissing her cheek.

“I know,” Bo sighed. “I just wish she could be here to tell me that herself.”

“I know,” the Valkyrie sighed in turn.

“Aren’t you two adorable,” Kenzi teased as she came over to the bar, breaking the moment of sadness with much-needed levity.

“Don’t get too used to it, short-stack,” Tamsin replied as she pulled away from Bo, though she still kept hold of the succubus’s hand. “I _do_ have a reputation to maintain.”

“After the shit that went down in fairyland, I don’t think that’s gonna be a problem, chica,” Kenzi noted.

Indeed, theories and speculations about the final battle against Dagda had grown to epic proportions before Trick straightened the story out to the best of his knowledge. Still, Bo and Tamsin had returned to the battlefield with their blades coated in white, one of those blades being Nuada’s Sword. Though no one knew exactly what happened or where the Sword had gone, the consensus was that the fight would have made Cú Chulainn proud. The Valkyrie and succubus had gotten more than a few nods of respect from the sídhe gathering in the Dal.

“Anyway, we bustin’ out the drinks now or later?” Kenzi continued. “Kayleigh promised to show off more of her skillz. Apparently she learned them all from Fíonn, so I’ma have to chase him down, too.”

“And what’s Hale have to say about that?” Bo smirked, arching an eyebrow.

“Not _that_ way!” the petite Russian protested. “Unlike you, sugarsnatch, I have been monogamous for the entirety of my life as opposed to only just recently.”

“Yeah, I don’t think anyone’s caught on to that yet,” the succubus grimaced. Along with nods of respect, she’d gotten some propositions as well.

“Oh, they will…” Tamsin vowed darkly, wrapping a possessive arm around Bo’s waist. She had scared away the succubus’s propositioners _very_ quickly. Kenzi snickered almost evilly at the territorial display.

The Dal filled to capacity as five o’clock approached, all the sídhe shifting expectantly in their seats as they waited for the ceremony to start. When the clock struck the hour, Trick emerged from the bar and stepped onto a pedestal for visibility, cueing silence among the crowd. After letting the stillness linger for a moment, the Blood King began to sing.

_“Of all the money e’er I had,_  
_I spent it in good company._  
_And of all the harm I’ve ever done,  
_ _Alas it was to none but me.”_

Bo took up the second part of the verse, her voice tentative but strong as the memory of her mother weighed heavily on her shoulders.

_“And all I’ve done for want of wit,_  
_To mem’ry now I can’t recall._  
_So fill to me the parting glass,  
_ _Goodnight and joy be to you all.”_

The succubus and her grandfather took the first chorus together.

_“So fill to me the parting glass_  
_And drink a health whate’er befalls._  
_And gently rise and softly call  
_ _Goodnight and joy be to you all.”_

The traditional song continued, every Fae in the bar taking up the tune in unison. A group of Fae with guitars – Kayleigh included – played the backing chords as they sang, the music ringing out as all the voices did. Some of the sídhe began to harmonize, adding further depth to the already powerful song.

The sound of hundreds of voices lifting in tribute sent shivers down Bo’s spine, and as she grasped Tamsin’s hand in hers, she’d swear she felt her mother smiling down at her, adding her voice to the others. The succubus had been skeptical of such a memorial at first, thinking it too lighthearted under the circumstances. But hearing this emotional unity and seeing the smiles of memory on the faces of all the sídhe made her realize that there was no better way to honor those they had lost.

_“But since it fell unto my lot_  
_That I should rise and you should not,_  
_I’ll gently rise and softly call  
_ _Goodnight and joy be to you all.”_

The voices of the Fae swelled to a crescendo in the final chorus, each word a fond memory and acceptant farewell.

_“So fill to me the parting glass_  
_And drink a health whate’er befalls._  
_And gently rise and softly call  
_ _Goodnight and joy be to you all._

_Goodnight and joy be to you all!”_

…

The Samhain celebration was in full swing. Drinks were flowing freely and chatter and laughter carried throughout the bar. A group of sídhe had formed a trad group on the makeshift stage, filling the room with old Irish jigs and reels interspersed with traditional songs, many of which had the crowd joining in. Kayleigh continued to play her guitar while Aislinn and Fíonn joined in on fiddles. Aislinn, it turned out, was not only a violin prodigy but an astoundingly good singer. Her performance of “The Mummer’s Dance” had jaws dropping and even Fíonn couldn’t keep up when she played the reel “The Contradiction” (“She’s the next Mairead Nesbitt,” her brother bragged afterwards). Bo was especially delighted when Kayleigh and Fíonn took up the duet “Red is the Rose,” as it was one of the songs Tamsin had sung to her to pull her from her grief. The succubus also managed to startle her friends by chiming in on the chorus of “ _Mo Ghile Mear_ ,” which had Tamsin beaming with pride.

“You want to get out of here?” the Valkyrie murmured to her love after a few hours of revelry.

Bo looked at her bondmate, then around the room at the crowd of Fae. Kayleigh had taken a break from playing and was showing off to Kenzi how she could do two shots at once. Fíonn and Aislinn had turned “Dueling Banjos” into “Dueling Fiddles,” much to the delight of the crowd. Lauren, the Morrigan, and Hale were all laughing at a story Dyson was telling while Trick chatted with the Fae sitting at the bar. Best of all to Bo was the merging of Dark and Light in the room, everyone smiling together without a thought for the divide. Her own smile widened as she caught snatches of battle stories amid the conversation.

“…then _this_ eejit comes charging in sword-first and gets him right in the gut…”

“…so he shield-bashes the bastard in a move straight out of a video game…”

“…she slides in front of me with her big monster of a shield and the thing just bounces of it like he’s hit a wall…”

After listening for another moment, Bo turned back to Tamsin. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

Leaving the noisy cheer of the Dal, Bo and Tamsin returned to the Valkyrie’s truck just long enough to retrieve two heavy blankets and Bo held them in her arms while Tamsin unfurled her wings. Picking up the succubus bridal style, eliciting a giggle from her love, the Valkyrie launched them into the air, landing gently on the roof of the Dal. There the two spread out one blanket to sit on before leaning against the air conditioning unit, spreading the second blanket over their laps. Bo leaned against Tamsin, who instinctively draped her arm over her bondmate’s shoulder.

They sat in comfortable silence for awhile, simply snuggling together and gazing up at the stars. “So…” Bo finally began. “Does this mean that things are going to go back to normal now?”

Tamsin glanced over at her love. “I dunno, succulette; what’s your definition of normal?”

“I mean…do we just go on how we did before? Do Kenzi and I go back to the crack shack and just continue with our lives, or…what’s gonna change?”

The Valkyrie chuckled, pressing a kiss to Bo’s hair. “As if I’d let you go back to that deathtrap now that I’m used to having you in my bed. Well, we do have to go back just once to break in _your_ bed, but other than that…”

“Oh, thank _God_ ,” Bo sighed in relief, slumping against Tamsin and eliciting an outright laugh from the blonde.

“Besides, you’re my bondmate now. I can’t be all territorial if you’re across town.” The words were meant in jest, but they were still tentative.

Bo smiled up at the Valkyrie. “I could definitely get used to that,” she murmured, and it was the blonde’s turn to be relieved.

Tamsin leaned down to kiss the brunette, humming in delight at the softness of Bo’s lips. “I love you, Bo,” she whispered.

“I love you, too, Tamsin.” The brunette nipped at her lip. _“Make love to me.”_

The Valkyrie blinked. “Did you just proposition me in Irish? Where did you even _learn_ that?”

Tamsin could see Bo blush even in the darkness. “I asked Aislinn. Kayleigh wouldn’t stop laughing long enough to tell me.”

The blonde sighed even as she laughed. “I can only imagine. But on the roof of the Dal?”

“Under the stars,” Bo corrected. “It’s romantic.” It was her turn to be tentative, not sure how open Tamsin would be to the idea. But when the succubus saw the look on her bondmate’s face and was then rather thoroughly kissed, she knew her idea had been well-received.

The two adjusted themselves so Bo could lie back on the blankets, pulling the Valkyrie atop her. Tamsin propped herself up on her elbows and brought their lips together again with reverent gentleness that made the succubus melt. Bo reached up and undid the bun in Tamsin’s hair so she could run her fingers through the golden strands. Tamsin moaned at the sensation and kissed her harder, her tongue pressing for entrance. Bo parted her lips in compliance, meeting Tamsin’s tongue with hers.

The Valkyrie was reluctant to pull away, but she was forced to just long enough to help Bo remove her jacket and tank top. The succubus had foregone a bra and Tamsin was able to kiss and suck at her nipples unhindered. Bo shivered both from the warmth of the Valkyrie’s mouth and the chill of the air and Tamsin pulled the blanket over them both to contain the heat they were creating.

Bo soon grew frustrated by the amount of clothing Tamsin was still wearing and began tugging at the Valkyrie’s own jacket and shirt. The blonde relented under her ministrations even as she undid the succubus’s jeans and soon both women were naked under the blanket, clothes strewn across the roof. Tamsin moaned at the feel of their skin sliding together, then cried out sharply when Bo lifted her head to kiss her breasts, her tongue dancing across her nipples. It was Tamsin’s turn to twine her fingers in Bo’s hair, pulling her closer as she bucked their hips together. Bo complied by sucking hard on the pebbled bud, bringing her hand up to play with the opposite breast. The succubus whimpered against Tamsin’s skin as their centers met, Bo spreading her legs to accommodate the Valkyrie’s.

Tamsin released the succubus’s hair so she could prop herself up on one arm while spreading Bo’s sex with her fingertips. Nudging her legs farther apart with her knees, Tamsin slid two fingers into the succubus’s silken heat, causing the brunette to cry out against her. Abandoning the Valkyrie’s breasts in favor of her lips, Bo wrapped one arm around Tamsin’s neck while reaching down between her legs, spreading them above her own. Parting her folds, she pressed two fingers inside, her lips against Tamsin’s muffling the blonde’s delighted whimper. Bo brought her thumb to the Valkyrie’s slick bundle of nerves to rub firm circles, arching her back when she felt Tamsin do the same. When Bo curled her fingers to brush the delicate skin in Tamsin’s core, the Valkyrie shuddered and thrust harder, her fingertips reaching deep to send the same pleasure pulsing through her love. Bo writhed and twisted beneath Tamsin as the blonde quickened the movement against her clit, searching for her release even as she tried to bring Tamsin with her. Soon the Valkyrie was just as close as she, the growing heat of ecstasy pooling between their legs, poised to ignite…

“Come, on, baby, come for me, come _with_ me,” Tamsin gasped as she thrust into Bo, bearing down on the succubus’s fingers in turn.

“Tamsin…” Bo could only manage her name as she balanced on the knife edge of climax. “Tamsin…I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Tamsin returned, and that simple confirmation as their eyes met sent them both over the edge, fiery pleasure cascading through their bodies in shuddering waves. They rode out their release together, gripping each other tightly as they lost themselves to bliss.

Many climaxes and shouts of ecstasy later, Tamsin and Bo curled together beneath their blanket, spent and sated.

“Should we go back?” Bo mumbled half-heartedly.

“Nuh-uh. Let’s stay here a little longer,” Tamsin murmured, holding Bo close as the two returned to gazing up at the night in each other’s arms.

Or, they would have.

“YO, HORN-DOGS! GET DECENT AND GET DOWN HERE, THERE’S DRINKING TO DO! DON’T THINK I DON’T KNOW YOU’RE UP THERE MAKIN’ WITH THE SEXYTIMES!”

Both women sighed. “Keep your pants on, short-stack!” Tamsin called back down. “Just give us ten minutes!”

“I’M DEFINITELY NOT THE ONE WHO HAS TROUBLE KEEPING HER PANTS ON, HERE!” Bo and Tamsin heard before the sound of the door slamming shut echoed its way to the roof.

“You think the others know what she knows?” Bo asked, cringing.

“Yup,” Tamsin popped the “p” with a lascivious grin.

“You don’t care, do you?”

“Nope.”

“Of course not.” The two stood up and stretched before locating their various articles of clothing around the rooftop. “Hurry, make a wish.”

Tamsin frowned at the succubus. “What? Why?”

“Shooting star. Now make a wish.”

The Valkyrie shrugged as she pulled on her underwear. “I’ve got everything I want.” She was about to reach for her jeans when she was tackled from behind.

“You told Kenzi ten minutes, right?” Bo murmured in her ear as she forced the Valkyrie on her hands and knees.

“Yes,” Tamsin gasped, though not entirely in response to the question.

Bo pushed the Valkyrie’s underwear aside. “Better make it fifteen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second song this was written to is the Celtic Woman version of "[The Parting Glass](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDgT0a6hepg)," which I used as the memorial song. Credit goes out to [LicensedMinkey](http://archiveofourown.org/users/LicensedMinkey/pseuds/LicensedMinkey) for inspiring the rooftop scene with the story [Champion](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3328436).  
> Goodnight and joy be to you all!
> 
> Extra: So I'm sure a bunch of you are wondering "why Ireland?" and "why Irish mythology?" I lived in Ireland for three years while finishing my bachelor's degree and to me it feels like home. I fell in love with the country and the people and the mythology and, having noticed little bits of said mythology in the Lost Girl universe, wanted to share it through two characters and a universe I really love.


End file.
